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Experiments in Early Christian Theology: The Costan Lectures 2022
113 pages, Paperback
Published November 25, 2025
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About the author
Kathryn Tanner
25 books38 followersProfessor Tanner joined the Yale Divinity School faculty in 2010 after teaching at the University of Chicago Divinity School for sixteen years and in Yale’s Department of Religious Studies for ten. Her research relates the history of Christian thought to contemporary issues of theological concern using social, cultural, and feminist theory. She is the author of God and Creation in Christian Theology: Tyranny or Empowerment? (Blackwell, 1988); The Politics of God: Christian Theologies and Social Justice (Fortress, 1992); Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology (Fortress, 1997); Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity: A Brief Systematic Theology (Fortress, 2001); Economy of Grace (Fortress, 2005); Christ the Key (Cambridge, 2010); and scores of scholarly articles and chapters in books that include The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, which she edited with John Webster and Iain Torrance. She serves on the editorial boards of Modern Theology, International Journal of Systematic Theology, and Scottish Journal of Theology, and is a former coeditor of the Journal of Religion. Active in many professional societies, Professor Tanner is a past president of the American Theological Society, the oldest theological society in the United States. For eight years she has been a member of the Theology Committee that advises the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops. In the academic year 2010–11, she had a Luce Fellowship to research financial markets and the critical perspectives that Christian theology can bring to bear on them. In 2015–16, she will deliver the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 20, 2025
Very good obviously. Delighted to see someone finally defining the commons but also being like hey what if we talked about the divine life instead.
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December 27, 2025A shoutout to the Politics of Enjoyment! Great stuff!
December 11, 2025
"Experiments in Early Christian Theology" is the title of Kathryn Tanner's Costan Lectures, originally delivered at Virginia Theological Seminary back in 2022. In it, her aim is to draw attention to the 'experimental' character of early Christian theology, that is, more than the content itself. The orthodox conclusions we moderns take for granted can easily eclipse the odd twists and turns they took to get there. While we, more or less, assume the various conclusions arrived at by the early church, we also quickly forget how they were reached through the bold courage of their speculative flights. Thus, it is this sort of experimenting which Tanner is not only interested in, but also wants to commend for the work of theology today, so that instead of tiredly repeating what has already been said we, too, might venture towards new and hope-filled claims.
Toward that end, Tanner explores in the first lecture ("The Approach") the basic theological methodology. Specifically, she examines Origen as a test-figure of sorts, and how he, like the rest of us, takes the undisputed claims of his day, and upon such claims seeks to work out coherent doctrines by exploring the various questions they raise. For example, there is the undisputed claim (which Christians universally agree upon) that God is good and just. But how does Origen help the church understand how both could be true, without compromising other undisputed claims like divine simplicity? Instead of seeing these attributes as contradictory, Origen demonstrates how both can be true at the same time, where the exercise of one (e.g. justice) does not lead to the diminishment of the other (e.g. goodness and mercy). While Tanner acknowledges that Origen's end results raise more problems than they address, she notes that the mistaken conclusions do not necessarily mean that the speculative method itself is inherently flawed. On the contrary, the risk of "flagrant error" is what it takes if we are to push towards greater heights of Christian understanding.
In the second lecture ("God Everywhere and Beyond"), then, Tanner outlines some of the ways she employs early Christian theology, and its speculative method, for her own work towards "unproblematic ends." As one of her central guiding figures, she turns to Gregory of Nyssa as an example. Concerning the relation between human nature and divine grace, and the question of how the latter could be received by the former, that is, without compromising the overall integrity of human nature, Nyssa's account demonstrates how humans in their mutability are made recipients of God's immutable grace. In light of this, she then examines the tensions of God's relation to the world, and vice versa, determined by what many take to be commonsense, in order to break the mold and chart a new path forward, so as to say what has to be said about God and creatures. Tanner notes that Nyssa's account does not have to be accepted, as it may be just as plausible as other alternatives. But that does not mean it is to be outright rejected either. Though Tanner doesn't point to her own works explicitly, her examination of Nyssa highlights her own methodology, and how she, in her own way, is carrying on that speculative tradition.
What are the tangible consequences of this method, and how does early Christian theology fund new ways of tackling today's social challenges? The third lecture ("Radical Transformation") explores such questions, by taking into account the early church's view of the radical distinction between God and all that is not God. In light of God's transcendence, we find social distinctions, amongst human creatures, leveled and placed on equal-footing. That is, while social differences remain, they are relativized and ultimately made inconsequential, given that all creatures remain wholly contingent upon the divine, who is their source of being. This is what Tanner calls "equalization." Carrying this thought into economic considerations, Tanner displays—from her previous works like "Economy of Grace"—how this theological framework reconfigures our understanding of economic possibilities. Shared property reframes our understanding of private property in light of God as the source of all good gifts. It is not that what I have is not mine, but that what I have is equally yours in light of our sharing in the source of the Giver himself.
But on this particular topic, it's a fair question, which Tanner has received multiple times over the years: Is this sort of vision even possible? How do we practice this? What would this even look like? But at the same time, I understand Tanner's potential annoyance with these sorts of questions (unrealistic, idealistic, etc.). She acknowledges the deep challenges, and is willing to admit that she herself is not entirely sure how particular communities/churches might go about this in practice. But this, it seems, brings the questions back to her original point. Just because we may not be sure, or even doubtful, does not necessarily mean the vision is wrong. It does not preclude our need to envision, imagine, and reimagine, at least to start. This is where her emphasis lies. But yes, the practical challenges remain.
This set of lectures is a refreshing reminder for the church today, and how its theological task can propel us to new heights of life and being by recovering the spirit of its bold venture, as we keep in view the gifts of the early church. However, while Tanner acknowledges that we, theologians, work in the freedom of given parameters (e.g. undisputed Christian claims, the witness of holy Scripture, and so forth), it raises questions as to just how far we are permitted to stretch the conclusions of orthodoxy. I imagine Tanner's use of orthodoxy almost like clay. With the substance we're given, we may create new shapes out of it, while not negating the integrity of the orthodox substance itself. But as we bend and stretch the clay, certainly, there may come a point when we stretch things too far, such that it breaks. The experimental character of theology requires the virtue of courage; but my lingering concern is how that courage can go beyond itself to become unbridled arrogance. Thus, how do we say what needs to be said for the present time of witness, and yes, in new and fresh ways, though without making novelty but faithfulness as the end goal?
Toward that end, Tanner explores in the first lecture ("The Approach") the basic theological methodology. Specifically, she examines Origen as a test-figure of sorts, and how he, like the rest of us, takes the undisputed claims of his day, and upon such claims seeks to work out coherent doctrines by exploring the various questions they raise. For example, there is the undisputed claim (which Christians universally agree upon) that God is good and just. But how does Origen help the church understand how both could be true, without compromising other undisputed claims like divine simplicity? Instead of seeing these attributes as contradictory, Origen demonstrates how both can be true at the same time, where the exercise of one (e.g. justice) does not lead to the diminishment of the other (e.g. goodness and mercy). While Tanner acknowledges that Origen's end results raise more problems than they address, she notes that the mistaken conclusions do not necessarily mean that the speculative method itself is inherently flawed. On the contrary, the risk of "flagrant error" is what it takes if we are to push towards greater heights of Christian understanding.
In the second lecture ("God Everywhere and Beyond"), then, Tanner outlines some of the ways she employs early Christian theology, and its speculative method, for her own work towards "unproblematic ends." As one of her central guiding figures, she turns to Gregory of Nyssa as an example. Concerning the relation between human nature and divine grace, and the question of how the latter could be received by the former, that is, without compromising the overall integrity of human nature, Nyssa's account demonstrates how humans in their mutability are made recipients of God's immutable grace. In light of this, she then examines the tensions of God's relation to the world, and vice versa, determined by what many take to be commonsense, in order to break the mold and chart a new path forward, so as to say what has to be said about God and creatures. Tanner notes that Nyssa's account does not have to be accepted, as it may be just as plausible as other alternatives. But that does not mean it is to be outright rejected either. Though Tanner doesn't point to her own works explicitly, her examination of Nyssa highlights her own methodology, and how she, in her own way, is carrying on that speculative tradition.
What are the tangible consequences of this method, and how does early Christian theology fund new ways of tackling today's social challenges? The third lecture ("Radical Transformation") explores such questions, by taking into account the early church's view of the radical distinction between God and all that is not God. In light of God's transcendence, we find social distinctions, amongst human creatures, leveled and placed on equal-footing. That is, while social differences remain, they are relativized and ultimately made inconsequential, given that all creatures remain wholly contingent upon the divine, who is their source of being. This is what Tanner calls "equalization." Carrying this thought into economic considerations, Tanner displays—from her previous works like "Economy of Grace"—how this theological framework reconfigures our understanding of economic possibilities. Shared property reframes our understanding of private property in light of God as the source of all good gifts. It is not that what I have is not mine, but that what I have is equally yours in light of our sharing in the source of the Giver himself.
But on this particular topic, it's a fair question, which Tanner has received multiple times over the years: Is this sort of vision even possible? How do we practice this? What would this even look like? But at the same time, I understand Tanner's potential annoyance with these sorts of questions (unrealistic, idealistic, etc.). She acknowledges the deep challenges, and is willing to admit that she herself is not entirely sure how particular communities/churches might go about this in practice. But this, it seems, brings the questions back to her original point. Just because we may not be sure, or even doubtful, does not necessarily mean the vision is wrong. It does not preclude our need to envision, imagine, and reimagine, at least to start. This is where her emphasis lies. But yes, the practical challenges remain.
This set of lectures is a refreshing reminder for the church today, and how its theological task can propel us to new heights of life and being by recovering the spirit of its bold venture, as we keep in view the gifts of the early church. However, while Tanner acknowledges that we, theologians, work in the freedom of given parameters (e.g. undisputed Christian claims, the witness of holy Scripture, and so forth), it raises questions as to just how far we are permitted to stretch the conclusions of orthodoxy. I imagine Tanner's use of orthodoxy almost like clay. With the substance we're given, we may create new shapes out of it, while not negating the integrity of the orthodox substance itself. But as we bend and stretch the clay, certainly, there may come a point when we stretch things too far, such that it breaks. The experimental character of theology requires the virtue of courage; but my lingering concern is how that courage can go beyond itself to become unbridled arrogance. Thus, how do we say what needs to be said for the present time of witness, and yes, in new and fresh ways, though without making novelty but faithfulness as the end goal?
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews