Hermeneutics of Charity : Interpretation, Selfhood, and Postmodern Faith

by Smith, James K. A., and Henry Issac Venema, eds.

• ISBN13: 9781587431135
• ISBN10: 1587431130
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: Brazos Press

Summary

According to many published reports, the devil is from Paris. In the circles of Christian theologians and philosophers, the dreaded enemy of "secular humanism" has been supplanted by a more terrifying creature: "postmodernism"-a label that functions as a kind of blob that absorbs anything contemporary that is considered antithetical to Christian faith. And almost invariably the provenance of postmodernism is traced to France, as if postmodernism were a kind of Frankenstein created in the laboratories of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jean-Francois Lyotard. Many Christian scholars have spent the past decade shoring up the front lines against this Parisian threat. In this context, the work of James H. Olthuis signals a markedly different kind of engagement with contemporary continental thought. Olthuis has found in French philosophers not enemies but allies. Following his early appropriations of the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer and continental theologians such as Pannenberg and Moltmann, Olthuis's earliest engagements with deconstruction-though critical-were characterized by an openness to the work that the Spirit might be doing in Paris. What could make such a unique engagement possible? We would argue that Olthuis's approach was possible only because he was operating out of the Reformed tradition of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Dooyeweerd. It is our hope that this book will introduce more students and scholars to Olthuis's unique scholarly contributions...as well as introduce them to a reformational tradition of Christian theoretical reflection that has unique resources for navigating the postmodern terrain. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	9	(2)
Contributors	11	(2)
Introduction	13	(6)
The Word of Love: Hermeneutics, Selfhood, and the Work of James Olthuis
James K.A. Smith and Henry Isaac Venema
A Poetic Tribute	19	(4)
In the Beginning: The Creation of Mother and Child
Julie Robinson
Part One: Hermeneutics, Deconstruction, and Christian Faith
1. Crossing the Threshold: Sojourning Together in the Wild Spaces of Love	23	(18)
James H. Olthuis
2. Olthuis's Risk: A Heretical Tribute	41	(11)
John D. Caputo
3. Philosophizing the Gift: A Discussion Between Richard Kearney and Mark Manolopoulos	52	(21)
Richard Kearney
4. If I Had a Hammer: Truth in Heidegger's Being and Time	73	(25)
Lambert Zuidervaart
5. In God We Trust? Biblical Interpretation and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion	98	(11)
Merold Westphal
6. The Battle Belongs to the Word: The Role of Theological Discourse in David's Victory over Saul and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17	109	(26)
J. Richard Middleton
Part Two: Love, Selfhood, and the Gift of Community
7. Face-to-Face: Ethical Asymmetry or the Symmetry of Mutuality?	135	(22)
James H. Olthuis
8. On Love: With Aquinas, Kristeva, Nietzsche	157	(14)
David Goicoechea
9. The Good Samaritan, the Philosopher, and the Madman	171	(14)
Constantin V. Boundas
10. Religion with an Impure Heart? Kierkegaard and Levinas on God and Other Others	185	(12)
Jeffrey Dudiak
11. The Risk of Leaving Home	197	(20)
Henry Isaac Venema
12. The Call as Gift: The Subject's Donation in Marion and Levinas	217	(11)
James K.A. Smith
13. With and Without Boundaries: Christian Homemaking amidst Postmodern Homelessness	228	(23)
Brian J. Walsh and Steven Bouma-Prediger
Part Three: The Work of James H. Olthuis
14. Olthuis and the Project of Integral Christian Scholarship: A Narrative by a Friend	251	(10)
Hendrik Hart
A Poetic Adieu	261	(4)
A Call to Prayer
Julie Robinson
Bibliographies: The Work and Legacy of James H. Olthuis	265
Compiled by Michael DeMoor