The State of the University: Academic Knowledges and the Knowledge of God

The book is an attempt to reclaim the knowledge of God as just that – knowledge.

It is no secret that theology is no longer considered a necessary subject in the modern university. Why is it assumed that the kind of knowledge theology represents is in some fashion deficient when compared to other subjects? Hauerwas argues that theology is often excluded from the knowledges of the modern university because those knowledges are constituted by an understanding of time necessary to make economic and state realities seem inevitable. Yet it is precisely this difference that makes Christian theology, while being governed by a different understanding of time than that characteristic of the other disciplines of the university, an essential resource for the university to achieve its task – that is, to form people who are able to imagine a different world through critical and disciplined reflection.

Hauerwas subsequently challenges the domesticated character of much recent theology by suggesting how prayer and the love of the poor are essential practices that should shape the theological task. Hauerwas makes this case by conversing with figures as diverse as Luigi Giussani, David Burrell, Stanley Fish, Wendell Berry, Jeff Stout, Rowan Williams and Sheldon Wolin.

Preface.

Introduction.

1. Theological Knowledge and the Knowledges of the University: Beginning Explorations.

2. Leaving Ruins: The Gospel and Cultural Formations.

3. How Risky is The Risk of Education: Random Reflections from the American Context.

4. The End of "Religious Pluralism:" A Tribute to David Burrell, C.S.C.

5. The Pathos of the University: The Case of Stanley Fish.

6. What Would a Christian University Look Like?: Some Tentative Answers Inspired by Wendell Berry.

7. Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana: Schooling the Heart in the Heart of Texas.

8. Christians and the So–Called State (We Are In): A Meditation on Loyalty after September 11, 2001.

9. Democratic Time: Lessons Learned from Yoder and Wolin.

10. The State of the Secular: Theology, Prayer, and the University.

11. To Love God, the Poor, and Learning: Lessons Learned from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus.

12. Seminaries Are in Trouble: Chastened Reflections on the Centennial of Bethany Theological Seminary.

13. Ordinary Time: A Tribute to Rowan Williams.

Index

Stanley Hauerwas is Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Christian Ethics at Duke University and holds a joint appointment in Duke Law School. He is known to be controversial and outspoken; his stand as a pacifist against the Iraq war made him a nationally recognized dissident but won him few friends. His work cuts across disciplinary lines: systematic theology, philosophical theology and ethics, political theory, as well as the philosophy of social science and medical ethics.

"This book is good news for theologians and a call to resolute labour". (The Journal of SJT, Volume 64/1, 2011)

This collection of essays represents a significant challenge for all Christians involved in higher education, from presidents and professors to students and constituents. Hauer was passionately demonstrates the need for the Christian community to reclaim the university, not just for job training but as a place to develop a different way of speaking and living in the world. (Pro Rege, March 2009)

A first–order theologian turns his sights on one of the most influential institutions in the modern society: the university Lively reading. (Books & Culture)

This collection is sometimes frustrating and it raises more questions than it answers. Yet it ought to be read widely, and received as a gift to both the Church and the university. For anyone involved in the work of teaching, this book is a perfect invitation to think through questions of what we are doing and why. (Church Times)

One feels invited to ruminate alongside the author ... Truly, food for thought. (Cresset)