Envisioning the Good Life

Who is God? What is God's relation to the world? How is God disposed towards us? What does God ask of us? These questions are not mere intellectual puzzles. They matter for us. A disinterested theology would be no theology at all, for we are fundamentally, at our very core, invested in God. God is the one who concerns us most deeply. Put differently, any theology worth the name is, as Miroslav Volf has put it, theology ""for a way of life."" We ask theological questions as those whose lives depend on the God whose character we try to articulate in the answers--and also in the asking. How we ask and answer these questions gives shape to our lives. In this volume, published in Volf's honor, leading Christian, Jewish, and Muslim theological scholars reflect on the shapes flourishing human life takes in light of God. Considering concrete questions--from how to talk about suffering to the value of singing in congregational worship--in light of their deep theological commitments, the contributors exemplify the kind of theological reflection our cultures so deeply need. Contributors to this volume: Matthew Croasmun Ryan McAnnally-Linz Marianne Meye Thompson David H. Kelsey Michael Welker Christoph Schwobel Alon Goshen-Gottstein Reza Shah-Kazemi Jurgen Moltmann Natalia Marandiuc Nancy Bedford Nicholas Wolterstorff Lidija Matosevic Ivan Sar?evic Linn Marie Tonstad ""Miroslav Volf loves a good conversation. And this book is exactly that, a conversation in his honor which explores a theme that he has so illumined with his own work over recent years: what it means for human beings to flourish in relation to each other and to the God who is Love."" --Graham Tomlin, Bishop of Kensington, London; President, St. Mellitus College ""Volf is one of the greatest theological minds of his generation, combining profound theological depth with adept creativity and willingness to mold his theology to address our many contemporary challenges. In this book you'll not only receive a resource to better understand Volf's work, but you'll be taken deep into a conversation that works the very center or aims of theology itself, directing its focus toward the good life. This book promises rich rewards for the interested reader."" --Andrew Root, Luther Seminary; Author of Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross ""How should people of faith think about a flourishing life and the common good? This book powerfully addresses this question through reflecting on the work of one of the most towering theologians and public intellectuals of the twenty-first century, Miroslav Volf. In a society marked by pluralism and conflicting claims about the place of faith in the public square, this text is a must-read."" --Keri Day, Author of Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives ""With the theme of 'human flourishing' as a response to, and fruit of, divine love providing a cantus firmus undergirding the volume as a whole, these essays unfold a wonderfully rich set of dialogues between Volf's theological vision and a range of theological and ethical concerns that spans continents and schools of thought. In so doing, the volume does theology a great service by laying out the full scope, vibrancy, and significance of Volf's theological vision."" --Luke Bretherton, Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke University ""What is the good life, the genuinely flourishing human life? This volume of essays by distinguished American and European theologians furthers the generative life work of Volf and his conviction that we flourish in joyful communion with God and one another. But how are ordinary forms of creaturely well-being related to this ultimate vocation, and how can this vision of the good life come to terms with the full spectrum of human diversity? If ever there was a time when the world needed to come together in serious engagement with these questions, it is now."" --Jennifer A. Herdt, Senior Associate