How can theology think and talk about history? Building on the work of the major twentieth-century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar as well as entering into sharp critical debate with him, this book sets out to examine the value and the potential of a 'theodramatic' conception of history. By engaging in dialogue not only with theologians and philosophers like von Balthasar, Hegel and Barth, but with poets and dramatists such as the Greek tragedians, Shakespeare and Gerard Manley Hopkins, the book makes its theological principles open and indebted to literary forms, and seeks to show how such a theology might be applied to a world intrinsically and thoroughly historical. By contrast with theologies that stand back from the contingencies of history and so fight shy of the uncertainties and openness of Christian existence, this book's theology is committed to taking seriously the God who works in time.

A new theological approach to the question of God's role in history.

About the Author
Ben Quash is Dean and Fellow of Peterhouse and lectures at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. He is also Convenor of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme.

Reviews
Reviews of the hardback: 'This book is, throughout, an invigorating and challenging read.' Church Times
'... scholars interested in the relationships between nature, grace and history, will find this work very stimulating and illuminating. It is also beautifully written, it contains valuable bibliographical references, and it is not scared to be interdisciplinary.' International Journal of Systematic Theology
'There is much to praise in this book, not least of which is its articulate insistence that Christian theologians (and, I would add, philosophers) need to be far more modest in their claims to have discerned God's presence and plans amid history's turbulent flow. Quash succeeds, sometimes brilliantly, in exposing some of the epic meanderings in von Balthasar's vast corpus.' Scottish Journal of Theology



Book Information
ISBN 9780521090827
Author Ben Quash
Format Paperback
Page Count 252
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 380g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 15mm