Abstract
This paper uses Douglas Pratt’s typology of religious extremism and fundamentalism to argue that John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy employs styles of rhetoric and representation of the religious Other that have clear affinities with such ideologies. While clearly demarcating Milbank’s theology from what is normally termed fundamentalism or extremism, the paper shows that nevertheless similar rhetoric and judgements are employed that suggests that his theology is at best unhelpful, and at worst potentially dangerous. Focusing upon Milbank’s early work, the paper suggests that such rhetoric can be found through much of his writings, but notes that a different approach can be detected in his most recent writings. Suggestions for more productive modes of theological encounters with the religious Other are advanced, which suggest how the ideology of Radical Orthodoxy may be in potential sympathy with such ideas.
References
Allen, Charles W. “Radical Orthodoxy in the Parish: OR, Postmodern Critical Augustinianism for Dummies.” Encounter, 64 (2003), 219-29.Search in Google Scholar
Almond, Gabriel, Emmanuel Sivan, and R. Scott Appleby. “Fundamentalisms: Genus and Species.” In Fundamentalisms Comprehended, edited by Marty, Martin E. and Scott R. Appleby, 399-424. Volume 5. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.Search in Google Scholar
Appleby, R. Scott. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence and Reconciliation. Lanham, MA, New York, and Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2000.Search in Google Scholar
Bauschke, Martin. “Islam: Jesus and Muhammad as Brothers.” In Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, edited by Paul Hedges and Alan Race, 191-210. London, SCM, 2008.Search in Google Scholar
Bhogal, Balbinder Singh. “Sikh Dharam and Postcolonialism: Hegel, Religion, and Žižek.” Australian Religion Studies Review, 25:2 (2012), 185-213.10.1558/arsr.v25i2.185Search in Google Scholar
Brecht, Maria. Virtue in Dialogue: Belief, Religious Diversity, and Women’s Interreligious Encounter. Princeton theological Monograph Series. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2014.Search in Google Scholar
Brown, Frank Burch. “Radical Orthodoxy and the Religions of Others.” Encounter, 63:1-2 (2002), 45-53.Search in Google Scholar
Cheetham, David. “Liberal Pluralism, Radical Orthodoxy and the Right Tone of Voice.” Sophia, 45:2 (2006), 81-97.10.1007/BF02782482Search in Google Scholar
Cheetam, David and Cartledge, Mark. “Introduction.” In Intercultural Theology, edited by David Cheetham and Mark Cartledge, 1-10. London: SCM, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Clatworthy, Jonathan. “Introduction” [to Linda Woodhead, “Questionning the Bishops’ Guidance on Same-Sex Marriage.”] Modern Believing, 55:3 (2014), 283-5.10.3828/mb.2014.27Search in Google Scholar
Clooney, Francis X. Comparative Theology: Deep Learning Across Religious Borders. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.10.1002/9781444318951Search in Google Scholar
Coco, Angela and Paul Hedges. “Belonging, Behaving, Believing, Becoming: Religion and Identity.” In Controversies in Contemporary Religion, edited by Paul Hedges, 163-190. Volume I. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2014.Search in Google Scholar
Cox, James. The Invention of God in Indigenous Societies. London and New York: Routledge, 2014.10.4324/9781315729473Search in Google Scholar
Crockett, Clayton. “Introduction.” In Secular Theology: American radical theological thought edited by Clayton Crockett, 1-9. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.Search in Google Scholar
D’Costa, Gavin. Christianity and World Religions: Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions. Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell, 2009.10.1002/9781444308358Search in Google Scholar
D‘Costa, Gavin, ed. Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: The Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990.Search in Google Scholar
Eck, Diana. Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras. Boston: Beacon Press, 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Egnell, Helene. Other Voices: A Study of Christian Feminist Approaches to Religious Plurality East and West. Uppsala: Studia Missionalia Svecana, 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Emerson, Michael and David Hartman. “The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism”. Annual Review of Sociology, 32 (2006), 127-44.Search in Google Scholar
Firestone, Reuven. “Can Those Chosen by God Dialogue with Others?”. In Contemporary Muslim-Christian Encounters: Diversity, Developments, Dialogues, edited by Paul Hedges. London and New York: Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2015.Search in Google Scholar
Fletcher, Jeannine Hill. Monopoly on Salvation?: A Feminist Approach to Religious Pluralism. New York and London: Continuum, 2006.Francisco, Adam S. “Luther’s Knowledge of and Attitude Towards Islam”. In The Routledge Reader in Christian-Muslim Relations, edited by Mona Siddiqui, 129-53. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.Search in Google Scholar
Hankey, Wayne J. & Hedley, Douglas, eds. Deconstructing Radical Orthodoxy: Postmodern Theology, Rhetoric and Truth Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005.Search in Google Scholar
Heck, Paul L. Common Ground: Islam, Christianity and Religious Pluralism. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2009.Search in Google Scholar
Hedges, Paul. “The Theology of Religions Typology Defended: what it can and cannot do”. In Twenty-First Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and New Frontiers, edited by Elizabeth Harris, Paul Hedges, and Shanthi Hettiarachchi. Leiden: E. J. Brill, forthcoming.Search in Google Scholar
Hedges, Paul. “Radical Orthodoxy and the Closed Western theological Mind: The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy in Intercultural and Interreligious Perspective.” In The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy, edited by Lisa Isherwood and Marko Zlomislic, 119-43. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2012.Search in Google Scholar
Hedges, Paul. “Book Review: The Future of Love: Essays in Political Theology. By John Milbank.” The Heythrop Review, 55:3 (2012), 545-8.10.1111/j.1468-2265.2011.00729_38.xSearch in Google Scholar
Hedges, Paul. Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue and the Theology of Religions. London: SCM, 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Hedges, Paul. “Is John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy a form of Liberal Theology? A Rhetorical Counter.” The Heythrop Journal, 51:5 (2010), 795-818.10.1111/j.1468-2265.2009.00527.xSearch in Google Scholar
Hedges, Paul. Preparation and Fulfilment: A History and Study of Fulfiment Theology in Modern British Thought in the Indian Context. Bern and Oxford: Peter Lang, 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Hemming, Laurence. “Quod Impossible Est! Aquinas and Radical Orthodoxy.” In Radical Orthodoxy? – A Catholic Enquiry, edited by Laurence Hemming, 76-93. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000.10.4324/9781315245409-6Search in Google Scholar
Hick, John. The Rainbow of Faiths. London: SCM, 1995.Search in Google Scholar
Hick, John. An Interpretation of Religion: Human Responses to the Transcendent. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1989.10.1057/9780230371286Search in Google Scholar
Hick, John and Paul F. Knitter, eds. The Myth of Christian Uniqueness: Towards a Pluralistic Theology of Religion. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1987.Search in Google Scholar
Hyman, Gavin. The Predicament of Postmodern Theology: Radical Orthodoxy or Nihilist Textualism. London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Isherwood, Lisa and Zlomislic, Marko, eds. The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2012.Search in Google Scholar
Janz, Paul D. “Radical Orthodoxy and the New Culture of Obscurantism.” Modern Theology, 20 (2004), 362–405.Search in Google Scholar
Jones, Gareth. “Review of The Word Made Strange.” Reviews in Religion and Theology, 2 (2007), 6.Search in Google Scholar
Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. London and Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press, 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Kiblinger, Kristin Beise. “Relating Theology of Religions and Comparative Theology”. In The New Comparative Theology: Interreligious Insights from the Next Generation, edited by Francis X. Clooney, 21-42. London and New York: T&T Clark, 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Kirkland, Russell. Taoism: The Enduring Tradition. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.10.4324/9780203646717Search in Google Scholar
Knitter, Paul F. “The Pluralist Path: Where We’ve Been, and Where We’re Going”. In Twenty-First Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and New Frontiers, edited by Elizabeth Harris, Paul Hedges, and Shanthi Hettiarachchi. Leiden: Brill, forthcoming.Search in Google Scholar
Knitter, Paul F. Without the Buddha I could not be a Christian. Oxford: Oneworld, 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Knitter, Paul F. Introducing Theologies of Religions. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002.Search in Google Scholar
Krogt, Christopher van der. “The Rise of Fundamentalisms.” In Controversies in Contemporary Religion, edited by Paul Hedges, 1-38. Volume 3. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2014.Search in Google Scholar
McMahon, Christopher. “Theology and the Redemptive Mission of the Church: A Catholic Response to Milbank’s Challenge.” The Heythrop Journal, 51:5 (2010), 781-794.10.1111/j.1468-2265.2009.00502.xSearch in Google Scholar
Markham, Ian. A Theology of Engagement. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.10.1002/9780470773611Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. “The Legitimacy and Genealogy of Secularization in Question.” In Radical Secularization?, edited by Stijn Latré, Walter Van Herck, and Guido Vanheeswijck, 83-127. London and New York: Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2015 (I have used a pre-publication draft of this chapter whose page numbers may not match the final version).Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. “Paul against Biopolitics.” In Paul’s New Moment: Continental Philosophy and the Future of Christian Theology, John Milbank, Slavoj Žižek, and Creston Davis, 21-70. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. The Future of Love: Essays in Political Theology. London: SCM, 2009.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. “The Gift of Ruling.” New Blackfriars, 85: 996 (2004), 212-38.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. “Christ the Exception.” New Blackfriars, 82: 969 (2001), 541-56.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. “Knowledge: The theological critique of philosophy in Hamann and Jacobi.” In Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology, edited by John Milbank, Graham Ward, and Catherine Pickstock, 21-37. London: Routledge, 1999.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. “History of the One God.” The Heythrop Journal, 38 (1997), 371-400.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. The Word Made Strange. Oxford: Blackwells, 1997.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. “The End of Dialogue”. In Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: The Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, edited by Gavin D’Costa, 174-90.Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John. Theology and Social Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.Search in Google Scholar
Milbank, John, Graham Ward, and Catherine Pickstock. “Introduction: Suspending the material: the turn of radical orthodoxy.” In Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology, edited by John Milbank, Graham Ward, and Catherine Pickstock, 1-20. London: Routledge, 1999.Search in Google Scholar
Miller, Ron. “Judaism: Siblings in Strife.” In Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: An Introduction, edited by Paul Hedges and Alan Race, 176-90. London: SCM Press, 2008.Search in Google Scholar
Niles, T. D. “Karl Barth, a Personal Memory.” The South East Asian Journal of Theology, Fall (1969), 10-13.Search in Google Scholar
Oliver, Simon. “Introducing Radical Orthodoxy: from participation to late modernity.” In The Radical Orthodoxy Reader, edited by John Milbank and Simon Oliver, 3-27. London: Continuum, 2009.Search in Google Scholar
O’Neill, Maura. Women Speaking, Women Listening: Women in Interreligious Dialogue. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990.Search in Google Scholar
Pieris, Aloysius. Fire and Water: Basic Issues in Asian Buddhism and Christianity. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1996.Search in Google Scholar
Phan, Peter C. Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004.Search in Google Scholar
Pratt, Douglas. The Church and Other Faiths: The World council of Churches, the Vatican, and Interreligious Dialogue. Bern and Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010.10.3726/978-3-0351-0016-7Search in Google Scholar
Pratt, Douglas. “Religion and Terrorism: Christian Fundamentalism and Extremism.” Terrorism and Political Violence, 22:3 (2010), 438-56.10.1080/09546551003689399Search in Google Scholar
Pratt, Douglas. “Religious Fundamentalism: A Paradigm for Terrorism?.” Australian Religion Studies Review, 20:2 (2007), 195–215.10.1558/arsr.v20i2.195Search in Google Scholar
Pratt, Douglas. “Exclusivism and Exclusivity: A Contemporary Theological Challenge.” Pacifica, 20 (2007), 291-306.Search in Google Scholar
Pratt, Douglas. ‘‘Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism: Prospects for a Predictive Paradigm.’’ Marburg Journal of Religion, 11, no. 1 (June 2006). http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/.Search in Google Scholar
Race, Alan. Christians and Religious Pluralism: Patterns in the Christian theology of religions. London: SCM, 1983.Search in Google Scholar
Randall, Katherine Yafiah. “Loving the Enemy: An Alternative Narrative on Jewish-Muslim Relations.” In Controversies in Contemporary Religion, edited by Paul Hedges, 39-60. Volume 3. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2014.Search in Google Scholar
Ramsbotham, Oliver, Tom Woodhouse, and Hugh Miall. Contemporary Conflict Resolution. 3rd edn. Cambridge: Polity, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, and Grau Marion, eds. Interpreting the Postmodern: Responses to ‘Radical Orthodoxy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. Transformation by Integration: How Inter-faith Encounter Changes Christianity. London: SCM, 2009.Search in Google Scholar
Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. “Pluralisms: How to Approach Religious Diversity Theologically.” In Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: An Introduction, edited by Paul Hedges and Alan Race, 85-110. London: SCM Press, 2008.Search in Google Scholar
Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. “Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism: The Tripolar Typology: Clarified and Reaffirmed.” In The Myth of Religious Superiority: A Multifaith Exploration, edited by Paul F. Knitter, 13-27. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2005.Search in Google Scholar
Schreiter, Robert. The New Catholicity: Theology between the Global and Local. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004.Search in Google Scholar
Smith, Graeme. “Mission and Radical Orthodoxy.” Modern Believing, 44:1 (2003), 47-57.10.3828/MB.44.1.47Search in Google Scholar
Strange, Daniel. “Exclusivisms: ‘Indeed their Rock is Not Like Our Rock’”. In Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: An Introduction, edited by Paul Hedges and Alan Race, 36-62. London: SCM Press, 2008.Search in Google Scholar
Swidler, Leonard. “The History of Inter-Religious Dialogue.” In The Wiley-Blackwell companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue, edited by Catherine Cornille, 3-19. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.10.1002/9781118529911.ch1Search in Google Scholar
Ustorf, Werner. “The Cultural Origins of ‘Intercultural’ Theology.” In Intercultural Theology, edited by David Cheetham and Mark Cartledge, 11-28. London: SCM, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Valkenberg, Pim. “Learned Ignorance and Faithful Interpretation of the Qur’an in Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464).” In Learned Ignorance: Intellectual Humility among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, edited by James Heft, Reuven Firestone and Omid Safi, 34-52. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Ward, Graham. “Intercultural Theology and Political Discipleship.” In Intercultural Theology, edited by David Cheetham and Mark Cartledge, 29-42. London: SCM, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Ward, Graham. Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.Search in Google Scholar
Wisse, Maarten. “Book Review: Deconstructing Radical Orthodoxy.” Ars Disputandi, 8 (2008), 10-17.Search in Google Scholar
Zapf, Dieter and Einsaren, Ståle. “Bullying in the workplace: Recent trends in research and practice – an introduction.” European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10:4 (2001), 369-373. 10.1080/13594320143000807Search in Google Scholar
©2014 Paul Hedges
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.