Bibliographic information:
Reese, Naomi Noguchi. Colin E. Gunton and Public Theologians: Toward a Trinitarian Public Theology. Evangelical Review of Theology 41, no. 2 (2017): 150-165.
Description:
In this article I examine Colin E. Gunton’s contribution to public theology and how it enables us to move forward in developing a trinitarian public theology that takes into account the triune God. To this end, I present a brief summary of Gunton’s pneumatology and then discuss three prominent U.S. public theologians to discern whether pneumatology plays any significant role in their public theology. In turn, I examine how Gunton’s robust pneumatology provides the necessary resources to address a deficiency in public theology owing to the absence of an adequate theology of the eschatological Spirit. Finally, I discuss criteria for discerning the Spirit’s work in relation to public theology.
In the end, I conclude that Gunton’s pneumatology that is trinitarianly and eschatologically formulated provides the resources necessary to move toward a more robust, holistic, and trinitarian public theology that takes into account the triune God. Moreover, this fresh approach enables us to look beyond traditional modes of Christian cultural engagement that have been counterproductive, and toward more effective, pneumatologically informed methods.
Publisher:
Paternoster (website: http://www.worldevangelicals.org/tc/publications/)