Bound and Free: A Theologian's JourneyIn our largely secular, postmodern environment, theology perhaps appears quaint and archaic. Yet Never has a thinking faith been more vital than today, says Douglas John Hall, when religious pluralism and fundamentalisms abound. Precisely because we live in a post-Christendom era, he asserts, serious religious reflection on the meaning and import of Christian faith is indispensable to renewing a sidelined church, a disoriented society, and ourselves as people of faith. Hall shows how in his fifty years of theological journeying he himself has come to see in theology a personal quest or even compulsion to dive deeply into life's deepest ambiguities, to take on the perplexity and disorientation of one's age, and to struggle to find meaning in the hiddenness of God. Christians around North America have come to depend on Douglas John Hall's writings to keep their faith honest and relevant. Now, in Bound and Free they will find a brief but earnest apology for the theological vocation as well as a personal testimony to a life of grappling with God as glimpsed in doubt, question, and quest. |
Contents
Theology as Vocation | 1 |
On Being a Christian Theologian | 18 |
A Theologian s Journey | 27 |
Where I Have Been | 32 |
Where I Am Now | 51 |
The Journey Ahead | 82 |
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academic already Anglo-Saxon Barbara Brown Taylor become Bible biblical Bonhoeffer called Canada Canadian century certainly certitude chapter Chris Christ Christendom Christian faith Christian theology church classical Protestantism clergy concept congregation courage cross culture decades dialogue Dietrich Bonhoeffer divine doctrine doubt Douglas John Hall Emil Fackenheim especially experience feel felt freedom German God's gospel grace Günter Grass human Jesus journey Jürgen Moltmann Karl Barth kind lectures Lighten Our Darkness living Lutheran Martin Luther mean ministry Moltmann mysteries never one's ourselves P. G. Wodehouse particular past Paul Tillich perhaps Protestant Protestantism question reality Reformation Reinhold Niebuhr religion religious right deep secular sense society Søren Kierkegaard speak spiritual steward story teachers teaching Telgte theologia crucis theologian theology of hope thing thought tian tion tradition Trinity Lutheran Seminary truth understanding Union Seminary University vocation whole words write wrote