Thinking Through Our Faith

It is possible, contends Grant, who teaches religion at Texas Christian University, to be a Christian and take modern and postmodern thought seriously. In the first half of his book, Grant declares that three major intellectual revolutions of the past changed the way we think about the world: the emergence of historical consciousness; the discovery of the evolutionary character of the natural world; and the postmodern recognition of diversity and pluralism. Grant explores the impact that each of these revolutions has had on religion and culture since the 18th century, and he develops a model of thinking about God that encourages ""21st-century Christians"" to embrace a God who is worthy of continual rethinking in light of new intellectual developments. In the second half of the book, Grant suggests how these intellectual revolutions can be integrated into a contemporary faith by exploring their impact on Christian thinking about the Bible, Christ and God. Grant argues for the human origins of the Bible, the limitations of historical knowledge about Jesus and the conceptual character of God. His constructive proposals for integrating faith and reason offer a middle ground for Christians trying to steer between religious fundamentalism and postmodern analysis. (May)