Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda (Rockwell Lecture) [Hardcover]

Nancey Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 1563381761 | ISBN-13: 978-1563381768

American Protestant Christianity is often described as a two-party system divided into liberals and conservatives. This book clarifies differences between the intellectual positions of these two groups by advancing the thesis that the philosophy of the modern period is largely responsible for the polarity of Protestant Christian thought. A second thesis is that the modern philosophical positions driving the division between liberals and conservatives have themselves been called into question. It therefore becomes opportune to ask how theology ought to be done in a postmodern era, and to envision a rapprochement between theologians of the left and right. A concluding chapter speculates specifically on the era now dawning and the likelihood that the compulsion to separate the spectrum into two distinct camps will be precluded by the coexistence of a wide range of theological positions from left to right. Nancey C. Murphy is Associate Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, and the author of Reasoning and Rhetoric in Religion, also published by Trinity Press. Her book Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning earned the American Academy of Religion’s Award for Excellence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism placed 8th in the "Top 25 list" of the 1997 Christianity Today Book Awards" -- Your Church (Your Church )

"This is a helpful book. Murphy writes clearly and summarizes a great deal of material...(a) bold effort to survey so much of where Christian theology has been and make proposals for where it should go next." --William C. Placher, Theology Today (Theology Today )

"This book...will be of particular in seminary theology courses." -- Religious Studies Review, July 1997 (Religious Studies Review )

"The central question asked by Nancey Murphy's book is this: Why is it that conservative Christian theologians and liberal Christian theologians are so far apart that we can say they operate out of incompatible paradigms? Murphy offers a descriptive answer to this question along with a prescriptive recommendation for connecting the right and left wings together into one body." --Dialog, Fall 1997 (Dialog: A Journal Of Theology )

About the Author

Nancey C. Murphy is Associate Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, and the author of Reasoning and Rhetoric in Religion, also published by Trinity Press. Her book Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning earned the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 180 pages
• Publisher: Trinity Press Int'l (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563381761
• ISBN-13: 978-1563381768
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #761,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lucid (if not original) Account, October 5, 2004

By 

Brent Wittmeier "bwittmeier" (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda (Rockwell Lecture) (Hardcover)

Murphy's work is excellent.

And it's not because she makes any startling claims. The liberal/conservative divide in theology is obvious. It is no surprise that both are fundamentally different (in content and reasoning) but based on similar philosophical presuppositions. That these presuppositions are increasingly questionable in a "postmodern" era has been pointed out so many times nobody wants to hear it anymore.

What is great about this book is Murphy's clarity. Beyond the pedantry of liberals and the fearful diatribes of conservatives, Murphy speaks in a clean and hopeful manner. She uses "ideal types" to be sure, but with such gracefulness that they work beautifully and effectively.

Her constructive chapters, of course, will not settle everything definitively. But they don't really have to --- all Murphy has to do is prove that this is really a move beyond liberalism and fundamentalism. I think she does this effectively.

I recommend this book because it improves on some of the ambiguities of Lindbeck's The Nature of Doctrine. Like Lindbeck, it is concise and powerful. Unlike Lindbeck, however, Murphy clears up some of the ambiguity surrounding "experiential-expressivism" and "cognitive-propositionalism." Her positive proposal, unlike Lindbeck's "cultural-linguistic" approach, is sufficiently nuanced so as not to fall prey to the claims of "Barthianism" or "relativism."

Finally, since Murphy comes from Berkely/Pasadena, not from New Haven or Chicago, she is able to avoid the history of better established schools of theology.

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wake-Up Call in Theology, November 20, 2000

By 

Gary L. Allan (Portage, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda (Rockwell Lecture) (Hardcover)

In this highly comprehensive work Nancey Murphy has single-handedly described where theology has come from, where it is now and where it is heading in the future. This is one of the best descriptions of the history of Western philosophic thought it's impact upon any theology. What is appreciated is how Dr. Murphy describes how our thought has emerged into what we know today as "Liberalism" and "Fundamentalism" (and Fundmentalism's child - evangelicalism) - but she does not leave us there. She moves then into a description of postmodern thought and it's impact upon theology. The rules have all changed! I did not understand "why" I thought and believed the way I do before reading this book as this was never explained in theological school - we just worked from various "a priori" assumptions. After reading this book, a different world opened up to me that has given me hope for a theology that is better informed for a postmodern world. The "wake-up" call is the fact that all the rules have changed. Those who hold onto the old rules of engagement will find this book threatening. Those who can see possibilities with the new rules of post-modern thought will find this book highly engaging and an accurate description of where theology is heading.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to foundationalism and theology, August 15, 2004

By 

Casper Denck (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda (Rockwell Lecture) (Hardcover)

Nancy Murphy's central thesis is that modern philosophy has created a situation where Liberal and Conservative theologians are, because of their foundationalist method, intractable in their relation to the other camp. The first half of the book examines this claim in respect of three opposing positions i) how we know God ii) the role and form of religious language and, iii) how God acts in the world. The second half argues that the intractability of the Liberal-Conservative positions is based on foundationalist methods and that with their apparent demise a postfoundationalist approach, such as those of Thiemann and Lindbeck, opens up a whole range of options that overcomes the Liberal-Conservative divide.

All this is done in a remarkably clear way and in a relatively small book. This book is an excellent introduction to contemporary changes in theological method that commonly come under the label of postmodern. From this basis theology will not be trapped in a pre-determined set of options as Murphy shows in reference to many areas of contemporary theology such as religion and science and the use of feminine language as a referent of God. Overall, this book will undoubtably make you think and question the way theology is done. My one major complaint is that while this book is an issue based book a more thorough exposition of the key theologians would have made this a more theologically important work.