Theological Reflection and the Pursuit of Ideals: Theology, Human Flourishing and Freedom

Contemporary thought is marked by heated debates about the character, purpose and form of religious thinking and its relation to a range of ideals: spiritual, moral, aesthetic, political and ecological, to name the obvious. This book addresses the interrelation between theological thinking and the complex and diverse realms of human ideals. What are the ideals appropriate to our moment in human history, and how do these ideals derive from or relate to theological reflection in our time? In Theological Reflection and the Pursuit of Ideals internationally renowned scholars from a range of disciplines (physics, art, literary studies, ethics, comparative religion, history of ideas, and theology) engage with these crucial questions with the intention of articulating a new and historically appropriate vision of theological reflection and the pursuit of ideals for our global times.

David Jasper is Professor of Literature and Theology, University of Glasgow and Changjiang Chair Professor, Renmin University of China, Beijing. He has numerous publications in the field of Literature and Religion, including co-editorship of The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology (2007). Dale Wright is Gamble Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, Occidental College. He is a specialist in Buddhism and Eastern Religions, and he has been closely involved with David Klemm and Bill Schweiker in the project of Theological Humanism which is the driving inspiration of this current volume.