Description
This substantially revised second edition of Revelation and Reconciliation, a book first published by Cambridge University Press in 1995, gives a fresh account of the intellectual breakdown of Christianity in the West. In contrast to the prevailing focus on epistemological questions and the collision between reason and revelation, Stephen Williams argues that underlying this collision is a deeper conflict between belief in human moral self-sufficiency and Christian belief in reconciliation in history. Taking issue with thinkers including the philosopher of science, Michael Polanyi and the theologian, Colin Gunton, the argument proceeds by examining the contributions of Descartes, Locke, Barth and Nietzsche before coming to conclusions on the theological reading of intellectual history and the prospects of revitalising a contemporary Christian belief in reconciliation in history. Students of theology, the history of modern thought and of Christian doctrine will find in Williams’ analysis an alternative narrative of where Western Christian philosophy went wrong, with implications for how it might be fixed.