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The descent into hell;: A study of the radical reversal of the Christian consciousness
Good book, good shape.
217 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1970
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47 people want to read
About the author
Thomas J.J. Altizer
36 books19 followersThomas Jonathan Jackson Altizer was a radical theologian who is known for incorporating Friedrich Nietzsche's conception of the "death of God" and G. W. F. Hegel's dialectical philosophy into his systematic theology.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 14, 2012
Interesting attempt to build a theology from hegel and the poetic vision of William Blake.
July 20, 2014
Well you know sometimes you hear something described as "radical" and you think, okay, okay, sure, bring your "radicality", let's see what you've got. Most of the time, yeah, maybe you get your feathers ruffled a bit, but how often is it really a break or rupture with what's come before?
Well, Altizer's radical theology is heavy on the "radical". It takes your breath away at times, how deeply he will challenge those aspects of theology you have always been led to accept. At times you just shake your head. Deeply and radically challenging.
But here's the thing: there's continuity, too. And he points out the ways that certain encrustations upon orthodoxy have left us with something deeply at odds with the extremely radical nature of [our textual record of] Jesus's teachings and life. Worth the price of admission, too, is his powerful engagement with Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Blake, Joyce, and a host of other thinkers.
Finally, this does not seem to me a book only of interest to Christians. Indeed, unless they are adventurous it seems likely to alienate them at various points along the way. But the way this text probes the still not-fully-reckoned Christian nature of modernity and the many thus-Christian assumptions that even most of the most secular among us (which is not, I grant, me) incorporate into their daily approach to the world, seems hugely important and valuable.
Finally, Altizer's style is beautiful. He'll carry you along through a full page of questions, one after the other, and your brain's just alight with synapses firing, trying to keep up, trying to make sense of this new world.
A thrilling read.
Well, Altizer's radical theology is heavy on the "radical". It takes your breath away at times, how deeply he will challenge those aspects of theology you have always been led to accept. At times you just shake your head. Deeply and radically challenging.
But here's the thing: there's continuity, too. And he points out the ways that certain encrustations upon orthodoxy have left us with something deeply at odds with the extremely radical nature of [our textual record of] Jesus's teachings and life. Worth the price of admission, too, is his powerful engagement with Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Blake, Joyce, and a host of other thinkers.
Finally, this does not seem to me a book only of interest to Christians. Indeed, unless they are adventurous it seems likely to alienate them at various points along the way. But the way this text probes the still not-fully-reckoned Christian nature of modernity and the many thus-Christian assumptions that even most of the most secular among us (which is not, I grant, me) incorporate into their daily approach to the world, seems hugely important and valuable.
Finally, Altizer's style is beautiful. He'll carry you along through a full page of questions, one after the other, and your brain's just alight with synapses firing, trying to keep up, trying to make sense of this new world.
A thrilling read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews