God in a Single Vision ─ Integrating Philosophy and Theology

In the ancient conversation between Western philosophy and Christian theology, powerful contemporary voices are arguing for monologue rather than dialogue. Instead of these two disciplines learning from and mutually informing each other, both philosophers and theologians are increasingly disconnected from and thus unable to hear what the other is saying, especially in Anglo-American scholarship. Some Christian philosophers are now found claiming methodological authority over doctrine, while some Christian theologians even deny that philosophy has its own integrity as a separate discipline. Against these trends, David Brown has argued over the past thirty years that philosophy and theology are both necessary in order to grapple with the reality of divine mystery and Christian faith. Neither discipline can be reduced to the other, and each has its own contribution to make for a full understanding of what Brown describes as a€?a single visiona€? of God. In this volume, Brown addresses some key topics in philosophical theology, including the created order, experience and revelation, incarnation and redemption, and heaven and our communal destiny. Combining analytic clarity, doctrinal substance, and historical depth, this volume exemplifies Browna€?s project of truly integrating philosophy and theology. It thus provides an ideal introduction to this vital conversation for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as a connected argument of interest to specialists in both disciplines.

Ever since the publication of The Divine Trinity in 1985, David Brown has been recognized as one of the leading philosophical theologians of Great Britain and an important international voice in the conversation between philosophy and theology. Having taught previously at Oxford and Durham, he retired as Wardlaw Professor of Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture at the University of St Andrews in September 2015. A priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, he is a Fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the current President of the Society for the Study of Theology. Christopher R. Brewer is a PhD Candidate and Postgraduate Tutor at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, as well as Editor-in-Chief for Transpositions, the official blog of the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts. He is in addition the editor of Art that Tells the Story (2011). Robert MacSwain is Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics, The School of Theology, The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, USA. The author of Solved by Sacrifice: Austin Farrer, Fideism, and the Evidence of Faith (2013), he has also edited Scripture, Metaphysics, and Poetry: Austin Farrera€?s The Glass of Vision With Critical Commentary (2013), and has in addition to this co-edited four previous volumes: with Jeffrey Stout, Grammar and Grace: Reformulations of Aquinas and Wittgenstein (2004); with Ann Loades, The Truth-Seeking Heart: Austin Farrer and His Writings (2006); with Michael Ward, The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis (2010); and with Taylor Worley, Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture: Responses to the Work of David Brown (2012).