Bøker av Jens Zimmermann

2013 CCED Book Prize winner Incarnational Humanism in an updated edition with a new foreword and preface. Having left its Christian roots behind, the West faces a moral, spiritual and intellectual crisis. It has little left to maintain its legacy of reason, freedom, human dignity and democracy. Far from capitulating, Jens Zimmermann believes the church has an opportunity to speak a surprising word into this postmodern situation grounded in the Incarnation itself that is proclaimed in Christian preaching and eucharistic celebration. To do so requires that we retrieve an ancient Christian humanism for our time. Only this will acknowledge and answer the general demand for a common humanity beyond religious, denominational and secular divides. Incarnational Humanism thus points the way forward by pointing backward. Rather than resorting to theological novelty, Zimmermann draws on the rich resources found in Scripture and in its theological interpreters ranging from Irenaeus and Augustine to de Lubac and Bonhoeffer. Zimmermann masterfully draws his comprehensive study together by proposing a distinctly evangelical philosophy of culture. That philosophy grasps the link between the new humanity inaugurated by Christ and all of humanity. In this way he holds up a picture of the public ministry of the church as a witness to the world's reconciliation to God.

Endorsements:"This book is a careful, historical demonstration of the way in which hermeneutics was secularized yet continues to borrow on the capital of Christian theology. By exposing the problems inherent in secular hermeneutics and correcting the histories of philosophical hermeneutics on record, Zimmerman points a way forward beyond secular hermeneutics. This is a bold project that should be read not only by theologians but, more especially, by those philosophers working in the wake of Heidegger, Gadamer, Derrida, and Levinas. This book is an excellent addition to any course in philosophical hermeneutics."-- James K. A. Smith, author of The Fall of Interpretation"In Recovering Theological Hermeneutics, Zimmerman offers a compelling argument for the claim that hermeneutics must be theological if it is to be truly hermeneutical. Through a fair and careful reading of premodern and postmodern hermeneutical theorists, he shows their true kinship. Building appreciatively (though not uncritically) upon insights of Gadamer, Levinas, and Derrida, Zimmerman draws from Bonhoeffer and Balthasar to construct an incarnational hermeneutic. Zimmerman provides us with a deeply Christian view of human understanding--one that results in nether hermeneutical triumphalism nor hermeneutical despair but affirms understanding as relational, historical, and ultimately based on God''s revelation."--Bruce Ellis Benson, author of Graven Ideologies: Nietzsche, Derrida, and Marion on Modern Idolatry"Recovering Theological Hermeneutics is an important contribution to hermeneutics. Zimmerman provides not only a detailed and convincing historical analysis but also an outline of theological hermeneutics that is ethical, incarnational, and thus, in the best sense of the word, truly evangelical. Far from naively idealizing a premodern point of view, Zimmerman convincingly works through modern and postmodern thought. In so doing, he shows the often-overlooked potential of the premodern Christian tradition without ignoring its difficulties and shortcomings--a challenge to both modern and postmodern theology and, indeed, philosophy."--Holder Zaborowsky, Albert-Ludwig University of FreiburgAbout the Contributor(s):Jens Zimmermann holds a Canada Research Chair at Trinity Western University. He is coauthor of The Passionate Intellect (2006), and coeditor of Being Human, Becoming Human: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Social Thought (2010).