Today this blog has gotten two hits off of the search engine term “theology orgasm”. Wow. I think we have a new winner.
So, the question to all you lifeless theology readers out there is which theologian, when read, comes closest to fitting this description? I’ll understand if nobody comments.
Pannenberg’s “Theology and the Kingdom of God.” The ontological priority of the future builds up so much anticipation it is hard to think about anything else. Of course then there is always John Cobb luring me in with some Whitehead.
Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger. Not so much because it’s groundbreaking or anything, but because I was just blown away by it when I first began reading theology texts.
More recently, Jenson’s Systematic Theology v1.
Nah, it couldn’t be process, ’cause well… thats always opening up, as opposed to closure. I discounted Moltmann because of his idea of new, expanding horizons as well – the climax is always in the future.
I put forth Johann Metz. But you say that, doesn’t he talk about dangerous memory? Of course he does, but it is dangerous memory that leads Metz to say “The future is no longer what it was.” Quite simply, memory is needed to orient two people together and make the experience all the richer. Woo hoo. heh.
Simone Weil for the mystic intimations – the deisre for the Good. Or Augustine’s Confessions. Take and read…take and read… How about Kierkegaard which is an obvious choice, or the early Schleirmacher. All that passion and desire has to lead somewhere ;-)
Halden, personally I think everything you write is orgasmic, so it all makes a lot of sense. I would have to say that I find Robert Jenson’s Systematic Theology Volume II to be up there though. Although I feel pretty good when I read Zizioulas too. Did I just say that?
Its fun reading things from people who are exponentially more erudite than I am. I would put Walter Wink on the list, as well as Gustavo Guitierrez, Martin Luther King Jr., Diarmuid O’Murchu, and Sally McFague. I wouldn’t say “orgasm”, but those all stand out. All of my ‘book-gasms’, as it were, have come from fiction. (I really wanted to type “friction”)