Christ the Stranger: The Theology of Rowan Williams
Overview
Rowan Williams is a complex, creative, and versatile thinker. Not only a theologian and church leader, he is also a poet, a translator, a literary critic, a social theorist, and historian. His imaginative vision brings together the streams of modern literature, patristic theology, Russian orthodoxy, German philosophy, and Welsh piety. In this lucid and elegant guide, Benjamin Myers explores Williams’ thought from the 1960s to the present. He shows that Williams has developed an immensely resourceful—and distinctively Christian—response to some of the major social, moral, and intellectual challenges of our time.
The Logos version of Christ the Stranger integrates this important work into your Logos library. Scripture references link to your preferred translation. Pull up other prominent Anglican theologians and compare their work with Williams’ side by side. Use it as a reference for sermon prep or an aid in your own devotional study.
- Organized chronologically
- In-depth indexes divided into subject and author
- Introduction by the author
- Sociality
- Tragedy
- Language
- Boundaries
- Tradition
- Growth
- Mission
- Saints
- Desire
- Hope
- Prayer
- Fantasy
- Renunciation
- Writing
Top Highlights
“The image of God lies not somewhere ‘inside’ the self but ‘outside.’ We begin to reflect God, and to become truly human, only as we pull away from our own interests and attach ourselves to the interests of others. Indeed for Lossky, the autonomous self is a sort of blasphemy, a broken mirror that reflects God’s image as a grotesque and diabolical disfigurement. Only in the social exchange of kenotic selves, each going beyond itself towards another, is God’s image restored. Humanness is not wholeness, self-mastery, self-containment: we are most human when we are cracked, when each self bleeds out into the lives of others.” (Page 17)
“The difficulty of all social exchange lies in the fact that human persons must always remain strange and mysterious to one another. You can never achieve a complete understanding of another person; the better you know someone, the more mysterious they become.” (Page 18)
“Instead differences should be accentuated as sharply as possible, so that what you experience in another person is not fantasy, not another deceptive projection of yourself, but the real intractable mystery of another self.” (Page 18)
“We must give up our desire to possess the truth, in order to receive it and share it freely with others” (Page 54)
“group alongside others but a community whose only ‘interest’ is the interest of all.” (Page 61)
An accessible, interesting, and persuasive account of this difficult yet important modern theologian.
—Alister McGrath, King’s College London, UK
- Title: Christ the Stranger: The Theology of Rowan Williams
- Author: Benjamin Myers
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2012
- Pages: 160
Reviews
2 ratings
Arthur Moye
3/15/2018
Monroe R Miller
7/22/2013
