About the Book
For a long time, Christians have tried to bridge the divide between Christianity and secular liberalism with philosophizing and theologizing. In The Priority of Christ, Bishop Robert Barron shows that the answer to this debate and the way to move forward lies in Jesus.
Bishop Barron transcends the usual liberal/conservative or Protestant/Catholic divides with a post-liberal Catholicism that brings the focus back on Jesus as revealed in the New Testament narratives. Bishop Barron’s approach will be of interest to a broad audience including not only the academic community, but also preachers and general readers interested in entering the dialogue between Catholicism and post-liberalism.
Contents
Foreword
Preface
PART I ICONIC CHRISTOLOGY
1. Jesus as Symbol 23
2. The Jesus of History 35
3. Doctrine and Narrativity 48
PART II
THE NARRATIVES
4. The Gatherer 71
5. The Warrior 90
6. King 116
PART III THE EPISTEMIC PRIORITY OF JESUS CHRIST
7. The Scriptural Warrant 133 8. Modern Foundationalism 136
9. Natural Theology 145 10. The Nature of the Christ-Mindl
PART IV THE NONCOMPETITIVELY TRANSCENDENT AND COINHERENT GOD
11. Thomas and James 191 12. The Distinction 204
13. God as Giver and Lover 230
14. Augustine, Aquinas, and the Trinity 246
PART V THE DISPLAY OF THE CHRISTIAN FORM: Ethics by of the Saints
15. Deontologism and Proportionalism
16. The Breakthrough 274
17. Edith Stein: Elevated Courage 281 259
18. Thérèse of Lisieux: Elevated Prudence 298
19. Katharine Drexel: Elevated Justice 316
20. Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Elevated Temperance 328
Conclusion: The Moment That Gives the Meaning 341
Bibliography 343
Index 347
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
What People Are Saying...
"Drawing deftly on Aquinas, Newman, Lonergan, Balthasar, and many others, Barron convincingly explains what a postliberal Catholic theology might be. But the great merit of this book is that he not only talks about what theology should be, he actually does it-above all in his lucid mystagogy on a series of Gospel stories and in striking meditations on the mind of Christ embodied in four great women saints of our time."
-BRUCE MARSHALL, Southern Methodist University
"A magnum opus.... Barron has made a signal contribution to contemporary Catholic theology. Some thing like his postliberal Catholicism marks the way ahead. Many will disagree, but anyone whose life and work involve trying to talk seriously to and about God will profit from reading The Priority of Christ."
-WILLIAM L. PORTIER, Commonweal
"Barron offers a compelling reading of several New Testament portraits of Christ and brings them into enriching conversation with later doctrinal and theological perspectives. He thus effects a renewed unity of biblical and systematic theology, which too often meander their separate ways.... Barron has gifted us with an important work that opens exciting vistas for exploration and theological renewal."
-ROBERT P. IMBELLI
"Barron's wonderful The Priority of Christ brings postliberalism back to its Catholic home.... His postliberal Catholicism is a narrative Catholicism, teasing out the implications of this for Christology and the doctrine of God, as well as ethics and epistemology-all drawing on a prodigious knowledge of the history of philosophy and theology. On top of all this, it is a downright lovely book, written with a kind of winsome literary flair that exhibits the inviting clarity of a master teacher. Highly recommended for sharp undergraduates; required reading for graduate students and scholars."
-JAMES K. A. SMITH, Religious Studies Review
"The book is full of gems worthy of hours of contemplation."
-MARK G. BOYER