This book is made up of a collection of texts unavailable in one volume until now, including six previously untranslated essays, from a major theologian of the twentieth century. Rahner's numerous writings focused on the revelation of God as mystery in the world and on the human being who has an essential openness towards the transcendent. His articles reveal an empathy and a depth of insight into the relationship between theology, faith and the arts which are remarkable and may take the reader by surprise. More recently, Rahner's contribution to the growing field of theology and the arts has been recognised by leading theologians on this subject. He asserts that theology must integrate the verbal and non-verbal arts as they are authentic means of human self-expression, of religious experience, and of God's self-communication; and therefore they are essential sources of theology. Rahner argues that theology, understood as a person's 'reflexive self-expression' about him- or herself 'in the light of divine revelation', cannot be regarded as complete until 'the arts become an intrinsic moment of theology itself'.

Foreword -- Introduction: Karl Rahner, Theology and the Arts -- Part 1 Prelude - Faith, Culture, Theology, and the Senses -- 1. Faith and Culture -- 2. On the Theology of Books -- 3. God's Word and Human Books -- 4. The Theology of the Symbol -- 5. Seeing and Hearing Part 2 On Literature -- 6. Priest and Poet -- 7. Poetry and the Christian -- 8. On the Task of the Writer in Relation to Christian Living -- 9. On the Greatness and the Plight of the Christian Writer -- Part 3 On Visual Art and Architecture -- 10. Theology and the Arts -- 11. Art against the Horizon of Theology and Piety -- 12. The Theology of the Religious Meaning of Images -- 13. Church Building: On Modern Church Architecture Part 4 On Music -- 14. Word and Music in Church -- 15. What Do the Beatles sing? -- 16. An Ordinary Song Postlude -- 17. Prayer for Creative Thinkers -- Bibliography -- Index.

"In recent years the topic of beauty has come into increasing prominence in a number of fields, including theology. This book explores several aspects of the relation between theology and aesthetics in both the pastoral and academic realms. The underlying motif of the book is that beauty is a means of divine revelation and that art is the human mediation that both enables and limits its revelatory power. Using examples from music, pictorial art and rhetoric, the five chapters explore different aspects of the ways that art enters into theology and theology into art, both in pastoral practice (for example, liturgical music, sacred art and preaching) and in the realm of systematic reflection, where, the author contends, art must be recognized as a genuine theological text." "The central chapters are followed by a discography of illustrative musical works and lists of Internet sites of sacred art and art history resources that will complement the text."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This book investigates the philosophical components of Christian faith in creation, by analyzing the distinction and the relation between creation and its Creator.The writings of Edward Schillebeeckx and David Burrell supply a terminology of distinction and relation that shapes the discourse, following in the footsteps of Aquinas. Poulsom elucidates the relational dialectic in the thought of Schillebeeckx as a way of thinking about the Creation and offers a helpful comparison with the thought of David Burrell. Relational dialectic is an organizing principle, not only of Schillebeeckx's account of creation, but of his philosophical theology more generally. It can operate as a hermeneutic for his material on praxis and humanism, in a way that resolves some problems noted by other Schillebeeckx scholars. Poulsom's interpretation of Schillebeeckx enriches current approaches to this thinker and offers a significant contribution to thinking on the doctrine of Creation and issues surrounding the 'ontological distinction' which is of major concern in philosophical theology today.

Jesus Our Redeemer examines what it means when Christians call Jesus their 'Redeemer' or 'Saviour'. It tackles such questions as: How can redemptive events in the past (Christ's life, death, and resurrection) bring about saving effects in the present? Why do human beings need redemption, both individually and collectively? What images of God are implied by the saving action of God and by human needs? Gerald O'Collins SJ draws on the scriptures, Christian hymns and texts for worship, literature, the visual arts, and other sources. He examines four major models of how redemption through Christ has been thought to work: theories of deliverance, penal substitution, sacrifice, and transforming love. He concludes by considering the outworking of salvation in the life of the Church, the situation of non-Christians, and the final consummation of human life and the created world at the end of time.

This book explores the historical and contemporary relationship between the arts and Christianity.

Opening Israel's Scriptures is a collection of thirty-six essays on the Hebrew Bible, from Genesis to Chronicles, which gives powerful insight into the complexity and inexhaustibility of the Hebrew Scriptures as a theological resource. Based on more than two decades of lectures on Old Testament interpretation, Ellen F. Davis offers a selective yet comprehensive guide to the core concepts, literary patterns, storylines, and theological perspectives that are central to Israel's Scriptures. Underlying the whole study is the primary assumption that each book of the canon has literary and theological coherence, though not uniformity. In both her close readings of individual texts and in her broad demonstrations of the coherence of whole books, Davis models the best practices of contemporary exegesis, integrating the insights of contemporary scholars with those of classical theological resources in Jewish and Christian traditions. Throughout, she keeps an eye to the experiences and concerns of contemporary readers, showing through multiple examples that the critical interpretation of texts is provisional, open-ended work--a collaboration across generations and cultures. Ultimately what she offers is an invitation into the more spacious world that the Bible discloses, which challenges ordinary conceptions of how things "really" are.

This Handbook surveys the complex history of Trinitarian theology and reveals the Nicene unity still at work among Christians today despite ecumenical differences. Forty-five contributors examine doctrinal developments and variations from biblical times to the present day.