God the Future of Man

by Edward Schillebeeckx

God, the Future of Man focuses on religion and secularisation, viewed from various vantage secularisation and God-talk; secularisation and the church's liturgy; secularisation and the church's new self-understanding; and, finally, secularisation and the future of humankind on earth in light of the eschaton (church and social politics). These thought-provoking reflections are presented against the backdrop of Schillebeeckx's hermeneutic premises. In the concluding chapter his reflections on secularisation culminate in a God concept that can function fruitfully in a modern culture that assigns the future pride of God as the future of humankind. Written in a period pregnant with Cultural Revolution and religious change, the book foregrounds the pivotal issue of secularisation in a thought-provoking way. With feverish urgency he reflects on various forms of religiosity in the modern world. His contribution to the debate could just as well have been written today.

Genres: Theology

Paperback

First published May 31, 2012

About the author

Edward Cornelis Florentius Alfonsus Schillebeeckx was a Belgian Roman Catholic theologian born in Antwerp. He taught at the Catholic University in Nijmegen. He then continued writing. In his nineties, he still wanted to finish a major book about the Sacraments.

He was a member of the Dominican Order. His books on theology have been translated into many languages, and his contributions to the Second Vatican Council made him known throughout the world.

Reviews

[graceofgod · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Christian’s eschatological faith is therefore a critical function whereby every “left-wing” political effort to give a positive and definitive name to what is worthy of man is condemned as ideology.12 But, on the basis of this faith in ultimate fulfillment, negative criticism is also directed to “right-wing” political tendencies which give an absolute value to the “established order” and rationalize it as a pattern of temporal society that has been sanctioned by the “eternal” God. What is more—and this eliminates in advance a danger that might threaten the “new concept” of God—this critical function of eschatological hope implies a criticism of all “negative dialectics” whose critical negativity is sterile, however closely the views expressed correspond to the reality of man’s disrupted state, and remains incapable of providing any positive contribution to the improvement of the condition of mankind as a whole. Finally, eschatological faith also implies a criticism of every attempt which, purely on the basis of scientific and technological planning, claims to be able to realize a perfect future for the whole of mankind."

[steds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discussion of secularity, very interesting exploration of late 60s Catholic hermeneutics