A Cultural Theology of Salvation
Clive Marsh
Abstract
This book offers a demonstration of how theological ideas ‘work’ in the contemporary West. It does this through an exploration of the Christian doctrine of salvation. It is acknowledged that doctrine develops as it interweaves with life experience and as humanity evolves. Doctrine cannot simply repeat what has gone before, even as it recognizes the value and richness of the traditions Christianity carries with it. The focus of the book is on how salvation is to be understood and articulated now, when ‘redemption’ language is widely used outside Christianity, and when redemptive experiences are ... More
This book offers a demonstration of how theological ideas ‘work’ in the contemporary West. It does this through an exploration of the Christian doctrine of salvation. It is acknowledged that doctrine develops as it interweaves with life experience and as humanity evolves. Doctrine cannot simply repeat what has gone before, even as it recognizes the value and richness of the traditions Christianity carries with it. The focus of the book is on how salvation is to be understood and articulated now, when ‘redemption’ language is widely used outside Christianity, and when redemptive experiences are reported in response to the arts, popular culture, media, and through counselling. The book assesses what is to be made of such material theologically and addresses the question whether salvation discussions have anything to do with contemporary interest in ‘happiness’. The first part of the book sets the inquiry within the context of how theology operates as a discipline and the cultural climate in which theology has to be done. The second part undertakes a number of case studies (in art, music, TV, film, positive psychology, and economic life) exploring how the concerns of a doctrine of salvation are, in practice, being addressed directly and indirectly in Western culture. The third part distils the results of the case studies within a contemporary Christian exposition of salvation. The conclusion offers a practical summary of the book’s findings.
Keywords:
culture,
theology,
salvation,
redemption,
popular culture,
arts,
practice
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198811015 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2018 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198811015.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Clive Marsh, author
Academic Head of the Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Leicester and International Research Consultant and Research Fellow, Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham
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