Bøker av Langdon Gilkey

For those living in the 1930s and 1940s who endured the devastation of the Depression, racial and social unrest, and the two World Wars ending in the Holocaust, the question of how to carry on the struggle for justice in a world seemingly filled with self-interest and evil became all-consuming. Many turned for an answer to the realistic, yet also optimistic, political and ethical writings of Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971). As the eminent theologian Langdon Gilkey demonstrates in this book, Niebuhr was able to provide such a persuasive answer because his social understanding was a theological understanding, one accomplished by viewing human being in relation to God as well as in its political and economic relations. This "Biblical" understanding of human nature, while acknowledging the often deep ambiguity and hypocrisy of the real historical world, also revealed a divine hand guiding that history. To Niebuhr, it is God's participation in history that gives it meaning and a promise of fulfillment, and presents believers the possibility of a social realism that maintains its moral nerve rather than succumbing to cynicism or despair. On Niebuhr provides the first systematic treatment of Niebuhr's mature theology in relation to his political theory and the crises of the 1930s and 1940s by a scholar who both understands the theology deeply and knew Niebuhr personally. The book begins with a look at Niebuhr's early political writings, then moves to Niebuhr's later understanding of human nature and history. On Niebuhr also presents a moving account of the role that Niebuhr's thought played in Gilkey's own experience as a prisoner of war and in his subsequent life's work. The result is an indispensable book for the many students and admirers of both these religious thinkers.

Western society continues to be faced with numerous consequences of pluralism - ecological concerns, global imbalances, racial injustices, and gender discrimination. Christianity, at the same time, is confronting its own lack of superiority or cultural dominance. How can Christian theology face these issues to construct a theology for the twenty-first century? In this book Gilkey articulates constructive proposals for addressing such issues. Rather than steering around the multiple challenges of pluralism, he offers insights to help shape a viable theology.

This vivid diary of life in a Japanese internment camp during World War II examines the moral challenges encountered in conditions of confinement and deprivation.

A thoughtful, clear consideration of the Christian idea of creation, placing this basic Christian tenet in the setting of recent insights from the physical sciences, metaphysical philosophy, and the study of myth and symbol.

This work offers a detailed examination of one of the most influential American theologians of the 20th century. Gilkey dissects the interplay of Niebhur's theology and his political theories, as informed by the Depression.

Two partial apprehensions of nature vied for dominance in the past century: religious (void of any influence from science) and scientific (unable to admit any reality, beyond the empirical). Both views have led to the exploitation of nature -- and the scientific may prove even more devastating. The fault, Gilkey argues, lies not in the scientific knowledge of nature but in the assumed philosophy of science that accompanies most scientific and technological practice. Scientific knowing needs to be critiqued and brought into relationship with other complementary ways of knowing.