Postmodern theology emerged in the 1980s and 1990s when a handful of philosophers who took philosopher Martin Heidegger as a common point of departure began publishing influential books engaging with Christian[2]theology.[3] Some works of the era include Jean-Luc Marion's 1982 book God Without Being, Mark C. Taylor's 1984 book Erring, Charles Winquist's 1994 book Desiring Theology, John D. Caputo's 1997 book The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida, and Carl Raschke's 2000 book The End of Theology.
There are at least two branches of postmodern theology, each of which has evolved around the ideas of particular post-Heideggeriancontinental philosophers. Those branches are radical orthodoxy and weak theology.[citation needed]
Although radical orthodoxy is informally organized, its proponents often agree on a handful of propositions. First, there is no sharp distinction between reason on the one hand and faith or revelation on the other. In addition, the world is best understood through interactions with God, even though a full understanding of God is never possible. Those interactions include culture, language, history, technology, and theology. Further, God directs people toward truth, which is never fully available to them. In fact, a full appreciation of the physical world is only possible through a belief in transcendence. Finally, salvation is found through interactions with God and others.[5]
Weak theology is a branch of postmodern theology that has been influenced by the deconstructive thought of Jacques Derrida,[6] including Derrida's description of a moral experience he calls "the weak force."[7] Weak theology rejects the idea that God is an overwhelming physical or metaphysical force. Instead, God is an unconditional claim without any force whatsoever. As a claim without force, the God of weak theology does not intervene in nature. As a result, weak theology emphasizes the responsibility of humans to act in this world here and now.[8]John D. Caputo is a prominent advocate of the movement.
^Raschke, Carl (2017). Postmodern Theology: A Biopic.
^Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (2003). "Theology and the Condition of Postmodernity: A Report on Knowledge (of God)". In Vanhoozer, Kevin J. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 22–25.
^Caputo, John D. (2006). The Weakness of God. Indiana University Press.
^Caputo, John D. (2006). The Weakness of God. Indiana University Press.; Derrida, Jacques (2005). Rogues. Stanford University Press.
^Caputo, John D., Vattimo, Gianni (2007). After the Death of God. 64-65: Columbia University Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Further reading
Caputo, John D. (2004). "Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)", Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol. 6, No. 1, December 2004.
Caputo, John D. The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. ISBN0-253-34704-1
Caputo, John D. What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernity for the Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.
Marion, Jean-Luc. God Without Being. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Raschke, Carl (2000). The End of Theology. Denver, CO: The Davies Group, 2000. Originally published as The Alchemy of the Word: Language and the End of Theology, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979).
