In Pannenberg: A Guide for the Perplexed, Bradshaw explains Wolfhart Pannenberg's thought, in which theology is not separable from a "secular" philosophy, along the grain of his development. Key texts are used for this, and difficult ideas, such as his notion of "retroactivity" from the future back through the past and present, are addressed in the context of Pannenberg's overarching view of things. His doctrines of the Trinity, his view of simultaneity and human development, as well as his engagement with the natural sciences are major areas that are given attention. How the ideal is instantiated in the real, or how the real is the rational, is argued as a clue to his system.
The Revd. Timothy Bradshaw, M.A., Ph.D., is Senior Tutor and Tutor in Christian Doctrine at Regent's Park College, Oxford, UK
CONTENTS Introduction Background, education and influences, historical, philosophical and theological Chapter 1 Human Orientation in History Focused text: Basic Questions in Theology 1 & 2 1. Reasonable Faith 2. What is Truth? 3. The historical structure of human life experience 4. Raising the Question of God 5. Conclusion Chapter 2 Revelation as History Focused text: Revelation as History 1. Indirect Self Revelation 2. Dogmatic Theses on the Doctrine of Revelation 3. Overview of Pannenberg's doctrine of revelation 4. Truth and Concepts of God 5. Religions and Revelation 6. Trinitarian Conclusion Chapter 3 Jesus' Eschatological Identity Focused text: Jesus God and Man 1. Pannenberg's eschatological historicist approach 2. Christology from Below 3. Jesus' revelatory resurrection 4. Jesus' revelational unity of essence with God 5. Retroactive force of Easter for Jesus' pre-Easter identity 6. The unity and distinction of Jesus with his Father - reciprocal self dedication 7. Jesus the man before God 8. Jesus' vicarious death on the cross 9. The Divinity of Christ and the Man Jesus 10. Conclusion: Three Levels Chapter 4 Historicist Trinitarian Ontology Focused text: Grundfragen Systematischer Theologie Band 2 1. The Trinitarian Spirit 2. The Trinitarian God of History 3. Trinitarian Personhood - beyond subjectivity and substance 4. The Trinitarian Life of the Future Perfect Chapter 5 Creation and Human Becomings Focused text What is Man? 1. Open Textured Creation 2. What is Man? Openness and Closedness 3. Imago Dei 4. The Spirit in and of Humanity 5. Alienation 6. Human Construction of Reality 7. Conclusion - anti Post Modern? Chapter 6 Concluding with the End 1. The Creative End 2. Being Eternity and Time 3. Conclusion The Future Perfected
‘Bradshaw's book will benefit students of Pannenberg and provide a valuable starting point for engagement with this prominent figure of modern theology.'