ABSTRACT

One of the key achievements of critical realism has been to expose the modernist myth of universal reason, which holds that authentic knowledge claims must be objectively ‘pure’, uncontaminated by the subjectivity of local place, specific time and particular culture.
 
Wright aims to address the lack of any substantial and sustained engagement between critical realism and theological critical realism with particular regard to: (a) the distinctive ontological claims of Christianity; (b) their epistemic warrant and intellectual legitimacy; and (c) scrutiny of the primary source of the ontological claims of Christianity, namely the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. As such, it functions as a prolegomena to a much needed wider debate, guided by the under-labouring services of critical realism, between Christianity and various other religious and secular worldviews. This important new text will help stimulate a debate that has yet to get out of first gear.

This book will appeal to academics, graduate and post-graduate students especially, but also Christian clergy, ministers and informed laity, and members of the general public concerned with the nature of religion and its place in contemporary society.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

part I|49 pages

Critical realism and transcendence

chapter 2|18 pages

The spiritual turn

Transcendence and meta-Reality

chapter 3|17 pages

Christianity and critical realism

part II|61 pages

Epistemic relativism

chapter 4|19 pages

The identity of Christianity

chapter 6|19 pages

The ‘problem' of Christian exclusivism

part III|58 pages

Ontological realism

chapter 7|16 pages

Classical theism and the Triune God

chapter 8|17 pages

The Triune God

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

chapter 9|23 pages

The economy of salvation

part IV|60 pages

Judgemental rationality and Christian epistemology

chapter 10|22 pages

The epistemology of divine revelation

chapter 11|16 pages

Theological science

chapter 12|20 pages

Radical orthodoxy

Beyond secular reason

part V|56 pages

Judgemental rationality and the historical Jesus

chapter 13|18 pages

Towards a critically realist historiography

chapter 14|16 pages

The quest for the historical Jesus

chapter 15|20 pages

Jesus Christ

A critical realist reading