Blue Twilight: Nature, Creationism, and American Religion

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by Langdon Gilkey

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Gilkey's latest work takes the measure of the current American religious and cultural crisis, assesses recent theological responses to it, and shows how these illumine our understanding of the ongoing creationism controversy. Throughout, Gilkey articulates a faith-stance responsive to the contemporary world of radical pluralism and moral uncertainity without retreating to simplistic dogmatism. Gilkey's vision of a "blue twilight" in which light fights with dark in religion and culture, stands as a stark reminder of what is at stake in the future of American religious life. Retired University of Chicago theologian Gilkey here gathers 13 papers he presented to various audiences over the last two decades. His key interests are all here: reflections on the enduring value of his teachers, Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich; his opposition to creation science and the religious right; and suggestions for theologies of nature (which is "a mirror, a sign, or a symbol of God") and of religious pluralism (which requires a commitment to the "relative absoluteness" of one's own tradition). Unfortunately, these essays offer nothing new. Gilkey's readers have met these reflections in his books On Niebuhr (LJ 4/1/01) and Gilkey on Tillich (Wipf & Stock, 2000. reprint); in Creationism on Trial (LJ 3/1/86), about the Arkansas court case; and in his previous collection, Nature, Reality, and the Sacred (Augsburg, 1993). An editor's red pencil should have eliminated the repeated anecdotes and redundant passages. Nevertheless, this new collection offers an accessible introduction to Gilkey's thoughts and perspective minus scholarly complexity and apparatus. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Steve Young, Montclair State Univ., Upper Montclair, NJ Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Langdon Gilkey is Visiting Professor, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and Emeritus Professor of Theology, the Divinity School, University of Chicago.

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