Sunday 4 February 2007

Robert W. Jenson

I’ve long been disappointed at the lack of online information about “America’s theologian,” Robert W. Jenson. The existing wikipedia page for Jenson was very brief and sketchy, so I’ve now re-written his whole wikipedia page.

At the moment, I’ve just written a general biographical narrative, and I’ve tried to highlight some of Jenson’s main influences and developments. At a later date, I might also try to add another section summarising some of the central themes of his theology (e.g. election, time and eternity, Lutheran christology, ecumenical ecclesiology, etc.).

If you happen to be a Jenson-expert, you might like to make some further additions or modifications to the page as well!

8 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Ben, for this extended CV. It is very helpful indeed, adding some information I didn't know, and reminding me of some things I'd forgotten.

Jenson, though clearly indebted to contiental theology and philosophy (who isn't?) - he, above all Yanks, softens the "Ouch!" of the line in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead (2004): "Do you ever wonder why American Christianity always seems to wait for the real thinking to be done elsewhere?"

Anonymous said...

Ben. This is really helpful. Thanks. Just letting you know that the link to Gerhard Forde takes you nowhere particular, completely unlike Forde's books which are wonderful. Thanks again.

::aaron g:: said...

you might want to post it on theopedia as well.

Mike said...

Thanks for the wikipedia update; I had a similar experience of trying to find information about Jenson and felt e-thwarted in an unusual way! I'm reading On Thinking the Human right now, and simultaneously enjoying it and slugging it out on every sentence!

Anonymous said...

Though being that I wrote the original article I must admit that I'm somewhat sad that it's been rewritten. Nonetheless, you had much more information than I myself did (I based my article on Braaten's biographical sketch in the "Time, Trinity, Church" book). So I am nonetheless grateful.

Ben Myers said...

Hi Jack -- well, I certainly appreciated your work, and of course I incorporated a lot of your earlier material into the current version. So your hard work wasn't wasted!

Louis Runhaar said...

Thanks, very helpful indeed.

Only I think you are mistaken to write that Jenson went to Paris on a Fulbright scholarship. That was Carl Braaten. See Braaten in "Robert William Jenson - A Personal Memoir" (pg 2) in Trinity, Time and Church.

BTW, I wrote the Dutch version of the wiki article on Jenson, based on Braaten's essay and your article. So thanks again! :)

Check: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jenson

Ben Myers said...

Many thanks, Louis!

Post a Comment

Archive

Contact us

Although we're not always able to reply, please feel free to email the authors of this blog.

Faith and Theology © 2008. Template by Dicas Blogger.

TOPO