The news of modernity's death has been greatly exaggerated. The Enlightenment project lives on in the notion of "the secular"--a zone decontaminated of religious belief. But the postmodern critique of modernity also calls into question the very notion of the secular, presenting an opportunity for questions such as, If modernity is essentially linked to the secular, shouldn't Christians welcome the advent of postmodernity? In Introducing Radical Orthodoxy, James K. A. Smith plays the role of a cartographer, mapping the landscape of contemporary theology and culture in order to introduce the distinctive voice of Radical Orthodoxy, which is associated with John Milbank, Graham Ward, Catherine Pickstock, and others. Radical Orthodoxy, he argues, has important things to say to both the academy and the church. Radical Orthodoxy affirms that there is no "secular." All is religious. If that is the case, Smith maintains, then the intellectual framework of all academic disciplines must be distinctively Christian. To deny this, he writes, is to fall victim to the modernist siren song of objective reason, which, in fact, is a pagan song in disguise. Radical Orthodoxy also challenges the church to a radical discipleship, resisting accommodation to a culture dominated by consumerism and violence. Drawing on Augustine and Aquinas, engaged through the lenses of the Reformed thought of Calvin, Kuyper, and Dooyeweerd, Smith argues that Radical Orthodoxy is in an ideal position to articulate an old-but-new postmodern theology that resonates with the Reformed tradition. Introducing Radical Orthodoxy will prove to be an invaluable guide, introducing an intellectual movement that challenges the church to consider the role of biblical revelation for all areas of life. It will find its place on the bookshelves of professors, students, and pastors.
James K. A. Smith (Ph.D., University of Villanova) is associate professor of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Previously he taught at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. He is editor of
In the Twilight of Western Thought in the Collected Works of Herman Dooyeweerd, and he has written numerous articles on philosophy and religion, and has a remarkable grasp of Post-modern hermeneutics and interpretation.
This is reflected in his publications Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church (Church and Postmodern Culture Series: Baker Academic, 2006); Jacques Derrida: Live Theory (Continuum, 2005), Introducing Radical Orthodoxy: Mapping a Post-Secular Theology (Baker Academic Press, 2004). Speech and Theology: Language and the Logic of Incarnation (Radical Orthodoxy Series: Routledge, 2002); Letters to a Young Calvinist: An Invitation to the Reformed Tradition (Bakerbooks, 2010) and The Fall of Interpretation: Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic (InterVarsity Press, 2000).
He is preparing four volumes The Violence of Finitude: Derrida and the Logic of Determination; Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Learning and the Formation of Radical Disciples; The Devil Reads Derrida - and Other Essays on the University, the Church, Politics, and the Arts and Thinking in Tongues: Elements of a Pentecostal Worldview (Pentecostal Manifestos Series; Eerdmans, 2008).
- Editorial Review.
