Theology and Social Theory and Its Significance for Community Building

Posted on May 12, 2015 by PLT Staff

Transcript of a conversation with John Milbank at the first meeting of the Lived Theology and Community Building Workgroup in Charlottesville, Virginia. Milbank shares the evolution of his faith and personal background. He goes on to discuss the ideas in his book, Theology and Social Theory, and the convoluted relationship between theology and social theory.

Excerpt: “Anyway, I suppose part of the point of the book would be to say that too often the kind of dialogues that go on between theology and the social sciences are conducted as if the scientists supplied the facts and theology came along with the values, and there is that neat division of labor. And so all the time I am wanting to say how actually all that the social sciences are doing is really telling stories, writing narratives, but are themselves inevitably valued imbued. And then, inversely, the Christian values are inseparable from the narratives that Christians tell and therefore they are inseparable from their version of the facts, if you’d care to put it that way. “

  • Paper Information
  • Author: John Milbank, Charles Marsh, Omar McRoberts, Heather Warren, Wallace Best, Amy Laura Hall, Stephen Fowl, Mark Gornik
  • Creation Date: December 16, 2000
  • PDF: View / Download File »
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