In Quest of a Vital Protestant Center e-bog

In Quest of a Vital Protestant Center probes the relationship between Scripture and culture in twentieth-century US theology and biblical studies. It points to the necessity of turning to what Karl Barth has referred to as "e;the strange new world within the Bible"e; for any revitalization of mainline Protestantism in the tradition of the Protestant Reformers in critical dialogue with serious evangelical theology. The study includes a historical overview underlying what Demetrion refers to as the "e;fundamentalist/modernist great divide,"e; which continues to resonate powerfully in contemporary US Protestant thought and culture. Demetrion offers an in-depth exploration of four representative twentieth-century Protestant theologians and biblical scholars, spanning from the conservative evangelical theology of J. I. Packer to the postliberal dialectical theology of Walter Brueggemann. The book includes a chapter on the neo-orthodox legacy as a mediating resource in bringing evangelical and postliberal theology into dialogue with the core issues of theology, biblical hermeneutics, and religious culture. Demetrion concludes with a critically empathetic review of the postliberal dialectical theology of Douglas J. Hall and the evangelical narrative theology of Richard Lints. In linking evangelical, postliberal, and neo-orthodox theology to a common search for a vital Protestant center, this book will facilitate fruitful dialogue among divergent schools of Protestant thought and culture.