Theology as Improvisation: A Study in the Musical Nature of Theological Thinking (Studies in Systematic Theology)

In Theology as Improvisation , Nathan Crawford reimagines the possibilities for how theology thinks God within a postmodern world. By engaging a number of thinkers in conversation, he navigates the nature of thinking God in a postmodern world. Theology as Improvisation Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: What Are We Playing? A. An Incomplete Account of Thinking God in the Christian Tradition B. The Problem C. My Argument (or, a Modestly Proposed Solution) D. A Brief Excursus—Orienting Terms 1. Heidegger and the Question of Thinking A. Pursuing the Path of Thinking B. “Step Back” – Opening the Path to Being C. Thinking as Attunement D. Conclusion 2. Derrida and Attunement: Playing in a Deconstructive Mode A. Deconstruction as Attunement B. Hospitality as Attunement C. Risking Interpretation—The Example of Translation D. Concluding Remarks 3. Finding the Groove: Attunement as Musical Way of Thinking A. The Centrality of Listening B. The Place of Attunement in Improvisation C. Improvisation as Transformation: Breaking the Musical Form D. Conclusion 4. Attunement and Theology: Resonations with David Tracy A. Theology as Conversation: The Problem of Totality and the Task of Theology B. Naming God: The Turn to Form through the Fragment C. The Gathering: Rethinking the “System” of Theology D. Excursus: An Ethics of Resistance E. Conclusion 5. The Theological Example: Augustine’s Unstructuring of Theological Form A. The Basis of Theology: De Musica and the Basis of Theology B. Finding the Groove: Rhetoric as Form in De Doctrina Christiana C. Improvising Freely: The Form of the Confessions D. Concluding Remarks Conclusion: Well, Sort of A. Relating the Parts to the Whole B. Emphases for Theology Bibliography Index In Theology as Improvisation, Nathan Crawford reimagines the possibilities for how theology thinks God within a postmodern world. He argues that theology is improvisation by analyzing the nature of attunement within theological thinking and how this opens certain possibilities for theology. He does so by engaging a number of thinkers, including Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, David Tracy, and Saint Augustine. He navigates the nature of thinking God in a postmodern world by using these thinkers to offer critiques of onto-theological thinking and totalizing systems while also following their embrace of the fragment and focus upon the nature of thinking as attunement. The result is a unique way of approaching theological thinking in our contemporary context. Introduction: What Are We Playing? -- Heidegger And The Question Of Thinking -- Derrida And Attunement : Playing In A Deconstructive Mode -- Finding The Groove : Attunement As Musical Way Of Thinking -- Attunement And Theology : Resonations With David Tracy -- The Theological Example : Augustine's Unstructuring Of Theological Form -- Conclusion: Well, Sort Of. By Nathan Crawford. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.