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The Word Made Speculative? John Milbank's Christological Poetics
Author(s) -
Bauerschmidt Frederick Christian
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0025.00106
Subject(s) - philosophy , christology , metaphysics , theology , poetics , epistemology , literature , poetry , linguistics , art
John Milbank's The Word Made Strange serves to answer many of the points raised by critics of his earlier Theology and Social Theory, in particular by developing more fully a “Trinitarian metaphysics” that take seriously the “poetic” character of human making and knowing. However, this metaphysics raises further questions regarding the underdevelopment of Milbank's Christology, Ecclesiology and Ethics. Specifically, Milbank's thin account of Jesus and the Church indicates an aversion to particularity that risks making his theology “merely speculative”, and lessens its impact on concrete Christian communities.