What are contemporary theology's challenges? What are its fruitful approaches? Who are its promising contributors? The contributions to this collection of essays try to find answers to these questions by making references to the Dutch Dominican scholar Edward Schillebeeckx, using his theology as a starting point for an up-to-date investigation and discussion. The theological work of Edward Schillebeeckx marks the transition from a pre-modern to a modern approach to Christian faith, Church, and theology. Already more than two generations of theologians have been trained in dialogue with his thought. Contemporary theology testifies, often implicitly, to the enduring relevance of many of Schillebeeckx's insights, while in other instances it pushes his thinking to its limits in order to deal with the current challenges for faith and society.

List of Contents


In Memoriam Edward Schillebeeckx, OP (1914-2009)


Prof. dr. Lieven Boeve, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium


Prof. dr. Ben Vedder, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands


Letter from Edward Schillebeeckx to the Participants in the Symposium 'Theology for the 21st Century: The Enduring Relevance of Edward Schillebeeckx for Contemporary Theology' (Leuven - December 3-6, 2008)


Preface


Frederiek Depoortere


List of Contributors


INTRODUCTION


The Enduring Significance and Relevance of Edward Schillebeeckx: Introducing the State of the Question in Medias Res, Lieven Boeve


PART I 'God Is New Each Moment': The Question of God in Modernity


God, the Luxury of Our Lives: Schillebeeckx and the Argument, Anthony J. Godzieba


Taking Atheism Seriously: A Challenge for Theology in the 21st Century, Frederiek Depoortere


PART II 'Everything Is Politics But Politics is Not Everything': The Social Role of Theology


When Everything becomes Political: Reading Schillebeeckx on Faith and Politics in the Contemporary United States, Vincent J. Miller


New Orientations of the Political: On the Contemporary Challenge of Political Theology,Jürgen Manemann


PART III 'God Is Bigger Than All Religions Put Together': The Dialogue Between the Religions


God Before Us, God Among Us: Interreligious Dialogue from an Intercultural Feminist Perspective, Gemma Tulud Cruz


Which Christological Tools for the Interreligious Dialogue?, Jean-Louis Souletie


PART IV 'Deus humanissimus': Suffering and Experiences of Negative Contrast


Suffering, Resistance, and Hope: Women's Experience of Negative Contrast and Christology, Kathleen McManus, OP



The Threatened Humanum as Imago Dei: Anthropology and Christian Ethics, Mary Catherine Hilkert, OP


'Dark Light': Wrestling with the Angel at the Edge of History, Elizabeth Kennedy Tillar


PART V 'It Began With an Experience': Church and Tradition in an Age of Globalization and Liquidization


Pushed to a Precarious Flexibility: Where to Go if Tradition Has No Answer and Apocalypse Is No Alternative, Hans-Joachim Sander


History and Tradition: Catholicism and the Challenge of Globalized Modernity, Oliver Davies


The Church with a Human Face, Marc Dumas


PART VI Philosophy and Theology


Implicit Faith: Philosophical Theology after Schillebeeckx, Stephan van Erp


Conversation, Identity and Truth, Benoît Bourgine


PART VII Looking Backward, Looking Forward: The Past and Future of Schillebeeckx's Theological Project


Retrieving God's Contemporary Presence: The Future of Edward Schillebeeckx's Theology of Culture, Erik Borgman



Schillebeeckx and Theology in the Twenty-First Century, Robert J. Schreiter


Theology for the 21st Century: A Commentary on the Symposium, Kathleen Dolphin, PBVM


Bibliography


Index