Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology

Time and again, Christians who seek to influence (and participate in) the state eventually succumb to the state's version of salvation. As an alternative, Cavanaugh points to the Eucharist as the means by which Christians can escape individualism and violence, turning instead toward true peace and reconciliation.

These three essays, and the other nine in the volume, are complex and difficult; they require patience and stamina. They are intended primarily for academics, and their practical implications are not always obvious. Such implications will have to be teased out and made explicit, by these writers and others.

Fortunately, some of that work is already being done. Routledge is producing a series of books examining such issues as economics and globalization from a "radically orthodox" perspective. Duke University Press has a similar series under the general title "Radical Traditions." The movement bears some resemblance to narrative theology, postliberal theology, and the kinds of cultural critique published by Eerdmans, InterVarsity and others (including the new Brazos Press, which intends to offer "unapologetic theology and theologically based cultural criticism"). Another "radically orthodox" development is the recently initiated Ekklesia Project, which seeks to shift Christian allegiances away from the state and the market and toward the historic trinitarian faith as embodied in concrete worshiping communities.

That radical orthodoxy's trinity of founder/editors, all Cambridge theologians, are now dispersed may be symbolic of the movement's future. Its cohesion may fade, even as its influence spreads. The book may not sell well, but the movement, under many names, seems likely to flourish and to deepen the practices of trinitarian worship, eucharistic communion, unabashed evangelism and faithful theological study.

Reviewed by David S. Cunningham, assistant professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

COPYRIGHT 1999 The Christian Century Foundation
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