God Interrupts History: Theology in a Time of Upheaval

by Lieven Boeve

The role of Christian faith in contemporary culture has changed dramatically. Both detraditionalization (the interruption of the handing on of faith from one generation to the next) and pluralization (Christianity is no longer the dominant player on the religious field) have caused a rupture between faith and its social context. Because of this, modern correlationist theologies, which presume a fundamental continuity between faith and its context, no longer succeed in explaining the relation between Christian faith and contemporary society. But theologies of discontinuity eventually fail as well, because they risk forgetting the intrinsic link between faith and history, society and culture. Christianity today demands a theology beyond theories of continuity and discontinuity. This book develops a theology of interruption. Boeve emphasizes the specificity of the Christian narrative about God, humanity, and their history together, and argues that this specificity urges Christians to be engaged in their context. Because God interrupts history. After an analysis of the contextual changes, the author sketches the fundamental aspects of a theology of interruption. This forms the basis for his further analysis of religious experience, rituals and sacraments, negative theology, religious plurality and incarnation, and apocalypticism.

Genres: Religion

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Lieven Boeve is een Belgisch katholiek theoloog en sinds 2014 namens de Belgische Bisschoppenconferentie directeur-generaal van Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen.
(Bron: nl.wikipedia.org)

Lieven Boeve is a Belgian Catholic theologian and since 2014 director-general ofKatholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen on behalf of the Belgian Bishops' Conference.

Reviews

[Daniel Rempel]

This book could have been so much more. Trying to parse a relationship between theologies of continuity and discontinuity, Boeve draws heavily on the theologies of Schillebeeckx and Metz to construct what he calls ‘a theology of interruption.’ For Boeve, “interruption structures the way in which we reflect upon the relationship in which God is engaged with God’s creation.” Fair point. However, Boeve seems to dance around the interruption rather than diving headfirst into interruption and it’s implications. In a theology of interruption, it seems like interruption has become secondary, often following behind the continuity that Boeve is trying to push beyond.

While helpful for thinking through the place of interruption (and more importantly, the God who interrupts), it seems like Boeve only started to scratch the surface of what a theology of interruption could really be.