EMPIRICAL THEOLOGY: A Handbook
EMPIRICAL THEOLOGY: A Handbook
edited by Randolph Crump Miller
Summary: This superlative book is the most comprehensive one-volume treatment ever published on what is the only truly distinctive North American contribution to theology, namely empirical theology. It deals with most major areas of empirical theology, ranging from its history, its major themes, and its treatment of important sectors of theology such as God, Jesus, the church, and so forth. It also deals specifically with how empirical theology can energize pastoral ministry and religious education by making them more relevant and more experiential.
Spirit of this Book: This wonderful book expands the way theology is done, how it is verified, and how it looks at the major issues in the world. It shows clearly that empirical theology is a particularly useful way of casting new and highly relevant light on matters which are often addressed satisfactorily by traditional theology. Its immanentist experiential base makes it an ideal theology for our present age.
What this Book Gives You: This book gives you new look at theology, one which can revitalize the way you think of theology, do theology, and apply theology. Because it is so incarnational and enmeshed with that kind of process so deep-set in our modern world, empirical theology can help your theological reflection and pastoral ministry in countless ways. The solid knowledge of empirical theology which this book gives you enables you to relate theologically to the modern world in a deeper, more sensitive, more experiential manner.
Distinctiveness: What Makes this Book Special : This book is special because it is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book you can find on the only truly major and innovative form of theology ever produced in North America. There is no other book like it.
Major Features: Major features of this book include: (1) a history of empirical theology; (2) a delineation of the nature, structure, and basic orientation of empirical theology; (3) an examination of how empirical theology contrasts with classical theology; (4) an exploration of how empirical theology deals with major theological themes such as God, Jesus, and the church; (5) the pastoral consequences of empirical theology.
Chapters
1. History of Empirical Theology
2. Major
Themes of Empirical Theology
3. Empirical Theology and Science
4.
Empirical and Classical Theology
5. Empiricism and God
6. God as
Spirit
7. Jesus and History
8. Humankind and the Religious Dimension
9.
The Nature of the Church
10. Ecstatic Naturalism and the Transfiguration of
the Good
11. The Integrity of Creation
12. Empirical Theology and Pastoral
Theology
13. Empirical Theology in the Local Congregation
Contributors: Contributors to this splendid book include some of the most famous experts in empirical theology: Tyron Inbody, John Cobb Jr., Frederick Ferré, Bernard Lee, Nancy Frankenberry, Karl Peters, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, William Dean, William Tremmel, Gerard Sloyan, Robert Corrington, and Randolph Crump Miller.
Praise for this Book: Great praise has come to this book from a wide variety of sources
DAVID TRACY OF University of Chicago Divinity School and author of ANALOGICAL IMAGINATION writes: "Here is an important book in one of the most creative movements in American religious thought."
A review in THEOLOGY TODAY states: "Anyone interested in American theology must read this volume."
PHILIP HEFNER OF THE Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and author of THE HUMAN FACTOR writes: "This book shows that the tradition of empirical theology is alive and well, and that it continues to push forward the frontiers of experience where faith has always flourished most vigorously."
A review in ANGLICAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW states: This volume provides a strong understanding of empirical theology."
Price and
Such:
304 pages List
Price: $25.95 ISBN 0-089135-088-8