University of Notre Dame Press Theology at the Void: The Retrieval of Experience

Theology at the Void explores the intersection of three central questions: What is human being? What is language? What is theology? Drawing on the writings of five major intellectuals from various religious and academic traditions, Thomas Kelly seeks to answer these questions by tracing the emergence of a problem that arises when various modes of thought disagree on the relationship between experience, language, and theological inquiry. Kelly begins the discussion with an analysis of Friedrich Schleiermacher's understanding of human experience, language, and theology to articulate the Christian faith. Twentieth-century thinkers Wayne Proudfoot and George Lindbeck are introduced early in the text as critics of Schleiermacher's approach, which, they maintain, is dependent upon a culturally limited theological anthropology. Kelly argues that contrary to Schleiermacher's "turn to the subject" theological methodology, postmodern thinkers assign no priority to experience but rather assert that languages and cultural systems construct experience. As one solution to the tension between these two camps, Kelly proposes two alternative approaches: George Steiner and Karl Rahner. In his book Real Presences, renowned literary critic George Steiner suggests a possibility for moving beyond the more radical anthropological elements of the postmodern critique. Karl Rahner offers a theological alternative that is sensitive both to the postmodern critique as well as to the nature of Catholic theology. Kelly demonstrates how both of these great thinkers provide a viable resolution to a major problem facing systematic theology. In the end, Kelly finds Rahner's resolution most persuasive. Theology at the Void is an engaging assessment of the problem of whether one can formulate a theology using human experience as its fundamental principle.