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Essays in Theology of Culture
This is a
- GenresTheology
235 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
28 people want to read
About the author
Robert W. Jenson
67 books40 followersRobert W. Jenson was a student of Barth's theology for many years, and his doctoral dissertation at the University of Heidelberg earned Barth’s approval as an interpretation of his writings. A native of Wisconsin, Dr. Jenson attended Luther College in Iowa and Luther Theological Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, before studying at Heidelberg where he was awarded his Doctor of Theology, summa cum laude. After doing graduate work at the University of Basel he returned to the United States. He taught theology for many years at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and St. Olaf College. Dr. Jenson also served as Senior Scholar for Research at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, NJ. He died in 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 20, 2022
so so good.
Just look at these essay titles:
Language and Time
God, Space, and Architecture
Eschatological Politics and Political Eschatology
(Those aren’t a sampling of the most interesting, they are just the first 3)
The book also includes “Violence as a Mode of Language” and “The Kingdom of America’s God”
This is the most “applied” work of his that I’ve read. But every time he answers a question he draws on his theological system, so I actually feel like this gave me a way better understanding of his trinitarian theology and ecclesiology: Lots of Aha moments.
And the ways he applies his system is consistently surprising and creative and often shockingly prescient (“it must be the church’s responsibility to its community to combat the media’s disintegrative effects upon it” was written in 1987)
This is probably not the best intro to Jenson’s thinking (I think I’m glad I didn’t start with it—although it would definitely make you want to read more) but it gives a pretty transparent window that “shows his work” (in the sense you’d say that about how you solve a math problem) and that was really valuable to me.
Just look at these essay titles:
Language and Time
God, Space, and Architecture
Eschatological Politics and Political Eschatology
(Those aren’t a sampling of the most interesting, they are just the first 3)
The book also includes “Violence as a Mode of Language” and “The Kingdom of America’s God”
This is the most “applied” work of his that I’ve read. But every time he answers a question he draws on his theological system, so I actually feel like this gave me a way better understanding of his trinitarian theology and ecclesiology: Lots of Aha moments.
And the ways he applies his system is consistently surprising and creative and often shockingly prescient (“it must be the church’s responsibility to its community to combat the media’s disintegrative effects upon it” was written in 1987)
This is probably not the best intro to Jenson’s thinking (I think I’m glad I didn’t start with it—although it would definitely make you want to read more) but it gives a pretty transparent window that “shows his work” (in the sense you’d say that about how you solve a math problem) and that was really valuable to me.
December 29, 2016
The large, hefty selfish side of me is concerned by this work, mainly in that while I thought this was an almost wholly forgettable collection of one theologian's life, at least Robert Jenson has a lifetime collection of theological-ish essays and someone read them over two decades after it came out. And I don't. Thus it is with mixed emotions I review Robert Jenson's collection (and all of them negative).
The early essays from the '60s felt like Jenson was trying awfully hard to be a product of his time instead of elevating his diction away from the postmodern linguistic heyday and give us meaningful engagement with the faults of the time. Frankly, all but one of the essays felt like that: discursive ramblings suffused with perplexing diction. Truly I'm not against skilled communicators (from a range of Eliot to Safire) enabling us to augment our vocabulary in meaningful ways. Jenson, however, fell in love with "diachronic," "ascesis," and similar terms during the '90s for no good purpose. We are not enriched by his terminology, just as we are not enriched by his general theological argumentation either. I know that's a horrible thing to say about a fellow theologiany sort of person, but there it is. I understand the general theme of the collection is "of culture," but Jenson gives us virtually no authentic Biblical basis for anything he says, and thus no authority for any culture-related commentary. Many of the selections end with a mildly unpleasant attempt at self-deprecation and "no one will really listen to what I say anyway" postscript - sadly, likely the most accurate portion of each excursus (and they really are excursuses ... excursi? ... excursuses ... as they often travel far afield before some semblance of returning to the point at hand, much like this review).
This collection does have one diamond in the rough (well, perhaps "diamond" is a bit generous though "rough" is overly generous for the remainder): "Hope, the Gospel, and the Liberal Arts." This essay was refreshingly enjoyable, lucid, and most importantly, insightful. I was about to say "helpful," which one would think would be important for non-fiction, especially theological non-fiction, but good theology transcends merely "helpful," and this essay doesn't exactly give us new help but it does gives us some familiar-yet-important insights. Effectively, Jenson reminds us Athens and Jerusalem have been spending a lot more time together behind the bleachers than Tertullian wanted to admit. That is not an exact quotation, nor is it the main thesis of the essay, but it is a significant undercurrent. It is a good, serious essay - I don't want to minimize it with humor, especially as it is the only quality essay in the collection.
So there you have it: one good essay by Robert Jenson. Clearly, I must be wholly mistaken. He has written several books since this lifetime flashback, and Wolfhart Pannenberg and Gilbert Meilander both say he is worth reading. Maybe they meant his other works? I have no authority to contradict those paragons, so there's that. And, as I said, I don't have a 25-year span of essays and addresses repackaged in a book with the world's worst cover. So clearly I can't be trusted. Better just stop this review then, I guess.
The early essays from the '60s felt like Jenson was trying awfully hard to be a product of his time instead of elevating his diction away from the postmodern linguistic heyday and give us meaningful engagement with the faults of the time. Frankly, all but one of the essays felt like that: discursive ramblings suffused with perplexing diction. Truly I'm not against skilled communicators (from a range of Eliot to Safire) enabling us to augment our vocabulary in meaningful ways. Jenson, however, fell in love with "diachronic," "ascesis," and similar terms during the '90s for no good purpose. We are not enriched by his terminology, just as we are not enriched by his general theological argumentation either. I know that's a horrible thing to say about a fellow theologiany sort of person, but there it is. I understand the general theme of the collection is "of culture," but Jenson gives us virtually no authentic Biblical basis for anything he says, and thus no authority for any culture-related commentary. Many of the selections end with a mildly unpleasant attempt at self-deprecation and "no one will really listen to what I say anyway" postscript - sadly, likely the most accurate portion of each excursus (and they really are excursuses ... excursi? ... excursuses ... as they often travel far afield before some semblance of returning to the point at hand, much like this review).
This collection does have one diamond in the rough (well, perhaps "diamond" is a bit generous though "rough" is overly generous for the remainder): "Hope, the Gospel, and the Liberal Arts." This essay was refreshingly enjoyable, lucid, and most importantly, insightful. I was about to say "helpful," which one would think would be important for non-fiction, especially theological non-fiction, but good theology transcends merely "helpful," and this essay doesn't exactly give us new help but it does gives us some familiar-yet-important insights. Effectively, Jenson reminds us Athens and Jerusalem have been spending a lot more time together behind the bleachers than Tertullian wanted to admit. That is not an exact quotation, nor is it the main thesis of the essay, but it is a significant undercurrent. It is a good, serious essay - I don't want to minimize it with humor, especially as it is the only quality essay in the collection.
So there you have it: one good essay by Robert Jenson. Clearly, I must be wholly mistaken. He has written several books since this lifetime flashback, and Wolfhart Pannenberg and Gilbert Meilander both say he is worth reading. Maybe they meant his other works? I have no authority to contradict those paragons, so there's that. And, as I said, I don't have a 25-year span of essays and addresses repackaged in a book with the world's worst cover. So clearly I can't be trusted. Better just stop this review then, I guess.
November 15, 2025
Superb collection of essays on culture.
There is not a weak essay in this whole collection. Every single one provides insights and clarifies thinking on cultural topics. By culture, he means politics, economics, science, psychology, sociology, music, and more. Culture broadly defined as the human enterprise (not his definition). Although these essays were written between 1969 and 1994, some of them read as if they are addressing the issues of today. One could say he had some prophetic insight.
His writing style is graceful, but sprinkled with wit and barbs. Never venomous or polemic, but often sharp and pointed and always insightful. He takes the dry wood of the English language and steams it so he can bend it to his will. Sometimes he tortures a sentence slightly to set up a punchline. He snags you with the syntax in the first half so you trip and smack into the point. It’s the step-on-the-rake moment that hits the point home. Some may find this style off-putting, but once you get used to it, it’s delightful.
His style of writing tends to strip the fat off ideas and reduce them to their sinew and bones. He reveals clearly the underlying structure of ideas, especially regarding cultural ideas in politics, economics, and psychology that can get burdened down with cruft and jargon.
As far as his insights into culture, they are hard to disagree with. He takes the theological perspective not as one way to seeing. With the theological perspective, he attempts to get at ultimate truths. Recognizing that something like physics develops insights that are theologically unreachable, but when it comes to the meaning of things, only a theological perspective can give us the ultimate insight. He demonstrates this in these essays.
Surely one of Americas greatest, if not the greatest, theologian in the last 100 years.
Highly recommended.
There is not a weak essay in this whole collection. Every single one provides insights and clarifies thinking on cultural topics. By culture, he means politics, economics, science, psychology, sociology, music, and more. Culture broadly defined as the human enterprise (not his definition). Although these essays were written between 1969 and 1994, some of them read as if they are addressing the issues of today. One could say he had some prophetic insight.
His writing style is graceful, but sprinkled with wit and barbs. Never venomous or polemic, but often sharp and pointed and always insightful. He takes the dry wood of the English language and steams it so he can bend it to his will. Sometimes he tortures a sentence slightly to set up a punchline. He snags you with the syntax in the first half so you trip and smack into the point. It’s the step-on-the-rake moment that hits the point home. Some may find this style off-putting, but once you get used to it, it’s delightful.
His style of writing tends to strip the fat off ideas and reduce them to their sinew and bones. He reveals clearly the underlying structure of ideas, especially regarding cultural ideas in politics, economics, and psychology that can get burdened down with cruft and jargon.
As far as his insights into culture, they are hard to disagree with. He takes the theological perspective not as one way to seeing. With the theological perspective, he attempts to get at ultimate truths. Recognizing that something like physics develops insights that are theologically unreachable, but when it comes to the meaning of things, only a theological perspective can give us the ultimate insight. He demonstrates this in these essays.
Surely one of Americas greatest, if not the greatest, theologian in the last 100 years.
Highly recommended.
August 8, 2015
For a collection of essays written over a decent stretch of time, this is a fairly cohesive book. Jenson engages topics like the relation of the church and the academy, modern science, the meanings of truth and beauty, and politics, among others. Each essay is short, usually 6-12 pages.
The goal throughoul the book, as he adresses the various topics, is to understand the matter at hand theologically. Often that requires that Jenson demonstrate how the subject already possesses a latent or unexamined theological or atheological shape, in response to which Jenson can present the gospel, as the narrative of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, to be the future God promises to creaction. According to the specific case, Jenson shows how this reframes the issue and resolves certain tensions.
Jenson's writing is not always easy, especially for anyone unfamiliar with his writing style, and this is also true of the present collection of essays. Also, it is likely that he will irritate the reader at one point or another -- perhaps several. However, the book provides a worthwhile prompt and challenge to Christians in the effort to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ.
The goal throughoul the book, as he adresses the various topics, is to understand the matter at hand theologically. Often that requires that Jenson demonstrate how the subject already possesses a latent or unexamined theological or atheological shape, in response to which Jenson can present the gospel, as the narrative of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, to be the future God promises to creaction. According to the specific case, Jenson shows how this reframes the issue and resolves certain tensions.
Jenson's writing is not always easy, especially for anyone unfamiliar with his writing style, and this is also true of the present collection of essays. Also, it is likely that he will irritate the reader at one point or another -- perhaps several. However, the book provides a worthwhile prompt and challenge to Christians in the effort to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ.
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November 21, 2009None
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews