Bücher von Jan-Olav Henriksen

The Anthropocene presents theology, and especially theological anthropology, with unprecedented challenges. There are no immediately available resources in the theological tradition that reflect directly on such experiences. Accordingly, the situation calls for contextually based theological reflection of what it means to be human under such circumstances.This book discusses the main elements in theological anthropology in light of the fundamental points: a) that theological anthropology needs to be articulated with reference to, and informed by, the concrete historical circumstances in which humanity presently finds itself, and b) that the notion of the Anthropocene can be used as a heuristic tool to describe important traits and conditions that call for a response by humanity, and which entail the need for a renewal of what a Christian self-understanding means. Jan-Olav Henriksen explores what such a response entails from the point of view of contemporary theological anthropology and discusses selected topics that can contribute to a contextually based position.

The Reconstruction of Religion explores the thoughts of three influential philosophers--G. E. Lessing, Soren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche--looking in particular at their influential approaches to the relationship between religion and modernity.In a period of a little more than one hundred years, Lessing, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche each developed a different theory of religion. Rejecting the possibility of maintaining religious faith on the old foundation of church tradition, these thinkers formulated new ways of understanding religion in response to the challenges of modernity. Though the conclusions of each system are different, there remain important elements in common between them, such as the importance of ""religious subjectivity."" Jan-Olav Henriksen compares and contrasts the thought of Lessing, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, showing that each of these philosophers still has something important to contribute to understanding religion in our own postmodern era.For anyone interested in the position of religious belief in today's world, these reconstructions of religion are of great value. In addition to their place in the history of ideas, these three philosophical approaches anticipate some of the recent issues relating to religion in postmodernity. Henriksen's perceptive work moves beyond the level of historical analysis to insightful rereadings of Lessing, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche that help us better understand the place of religion in our pluralistic society.

By discussing critically different ways the symbol of God functions in the formation of the self, this book develops a nuanced and original approach to the interplay between God and the self. It suggests that play is actually an important metaphor in order to develop a dynamic understanding of religion's way of relating God and the Self.