Twentieth Century Religious Thought

While this is the useful tool the title indicates it should be, the book has two fundamental flaws. The first is intrinsic to its design, and Macquarrie touches on it from time to time: it is a scamper through so broad a field that only the barest impression of any thinker mentioned can be gained. It is then very much an introduction to the vast array of religious writing, is only able to be representative in scope, and therefore should be judged by its ability to whet the appetite rather than to fill a vast void with immeasurable knowledge. In this it succeeds fairly well. It is amusing to note whether each of the philosophers and theologians that Macquarrie has considered has loomed over a twenty-first century consciousness, or sunk show more with little trace. Ulanov and Ogden, for example, are unlikely to be known by many today, Ricouer, Moltmann, Ruether and Gadamer remain giants of discourse.

But a second problem emerges. Macquarrie has a reputation for great fairness in his assessment of divergent positions, and certainly he almost carries off an unjaundiced presentation. When however he engages with those he groups together as theologians of the Word, Barth, Brunner, Cullmann, Aulén and Nygren, as well as the later Moltmann and Pannenberg, it is all but impossible to escape the sense that MacQuarrie's even-handedness is delivered through a set of gritted teeth. The transcendental presuppositions of these theologians, rooted in the utter otherness of God, rest uneasily with MacQuarrie, and he cannot disguise it. He is more even-handed when he comes to present the champions of his own existentialist position, though even here I sense his admiration for Bultmann, Tillich, Buri and Gogarten (particularly the first two) escapes his attempts to be overly critical. MacQuarrie's own well-know views are finally, briefly set out at the very end of the book (450).

This is a useful book, three times revised, and already dated. Someone will need soon to pick up once more the task MacQuarrie attempted. In the meantime as a scamper through its vast topic, this is a useful primer. show less

A comprehensive survey of the major theological and philosophical religious movements and thinkers of the 20th century.