A God for This World

This is a discussion of how God became remote from the world, with consequences for belief, and how God is today being reimagined as being at home in the world and at work in natural and human events. Beyond classical theism and modern atheism, traditions of God at home in the world are recovered and holistic images of God explored - old and new. Incorporating insights from quantum physics, postmodern theory, chaos theory and evolutionary biology, the book recaptures the sense of God as "soul" of the world, commending a secular mysticism of God "in, with and under" all the struggles of matter, life and consciousness. This reinvigorated tradition of divine action is brought into respectful dialogue with the undeniable challanges to faith which evil and suffering pose.

Religion & Spirituality

Cowdell, Scott

Christian Books & Bibles

Continuum Intl Pub Group

This is a discussion of how God became remote from the world, with consequences for belief, and how God is today being reimagined as being at home in the world and at work in natural and human events. Beyond classical theism and modern atheism, traditions of God at home in the world are recovered and holistic images of God explored - old and new. Incorporating insights from quantum physics, postmodern theory, chaos theory and evolutionary biology, the book recaptures the sense of God as "soul" of the world, commending a secular mysticism of God "in, with and under" all the struggles of matter, life and consciousness. This reinvigorated tradition of divine action is brought into respectful dialogue with the undeniable challanges to faith which evil and suffering pose.

In René Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis, Scott Cowdell provides the first systematic interpretation of René Girard’s controversial approach to secular modernity. Cowdell identifies the scope, development, and implications of Girard’s thought, the centrality of Christ in Girard's thinking, and, in particular, Girard's distinctive take on the uniqueness and finality of Christ in terms of his impact on Western culture. In Girard’s singular vision, according to Cowdell, secular modernity has emerged thanks to the Bible’s exposure of the cathartic violence that is at the root of religious prohibitions, myths, and rituals. In the literature, the psychology, and most recently the military history of modernity, Girard discerns a consistent slide into an apocalypse that challenges modern ideas of romanticism, individualism, and progressivism. In the first three chapters, Cowdell examines the three elements of Girard’s basic intellectual vision (mimesis, sacrifice, biblical hermeneutics) and brings this vision to a constructive interpretation of “secularization” and “modernity,” as these terms are understood in the broadest sense today. Chapter 4 focuses on modern institutions, chiefly the nation state and the market, that function to restrain the outbreak of violence. And finally, Cowdell discusses the apocalyptic dimension of Girard's theory in relation to modern warfare and terrorism. Here, Cowdell engages with the most recent writings of Girard (particularly his Battling to the End) and applies them to further conversations in cultural theology, political science, and philosophy. Cowdell takes up and extends Girard’s own warning concerning an alternative to a future apocalypse: “What sort of conversion must humans undergo, before it is too late?”

René Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis

History

University of Notre Dame Press

In his latest book on the ground-breaking work of René Girard (1923–2015), Scott Cowdell sets out a new perspective on mimetic theory and theology: he develops the proposed connection between Girardian thought and theological dramatic theory in new directions, engaging with issues of evolutionary suffering and divine providence, inclusive Christian uniqueness, God's judgment, nonviolent atonement, and the spiritual life. Cowdell reveals a powerful, illuminating, and life-enhancing synergy between mimetic theory and Christianity at its best.
 With religion widely seen as increasingly violent and intransigent, the true Christian emphasis on divine solidarity, mercy, and healing is in danger of being lost. René Girard provides a countervailing voice. He emerges from Cowdell's study not only as a necessary dialogue partner for theology today, but as a global prophet offering hope and challenge in equal measure. René Girard was a Catholic cultural theorist whose mimetic theory achieved a powerful symbiosis of social science with scripture and theology, yielding a unique perspective on humanity’s origins, violent history, and future prospects. Cowdell maps this synergy, revealing theological themes present from Girard’s earliest writings to the latest, less-familiar publications. He resolves a number of theological challenges to Girard’s work, engaging mimetic theory in fruitful dialogue with key themes, movements, and thinkers in theology today.
 Bringing a distinctive Anglican voice to a largely Catholic debate, Cowdell gives an orthodox theological account of Girard’s intellectual achievement, bearing witness to Christianity’s nonviolent God. This book will be of great interest to theologians, seminarians and clergy of all traditions, Girardians, and Christian peace activists.

René Girard and the Nonviolent God

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Is Jesus Unique? provides the most thorough and comprehensive study ever done on the unique role of Jesus in God's plan of salvation and at the center of Christian belief. Dr. Cowdall surveys all of the major writers in the modern era who have addressed the question and helps to classify the different schools and perspectives into four major approaches: conservative, idealist, liberal, and radical. This major Christological study also evaluates the search for the historical Jesus trend today and different approaches to the metaphysics of history, revelation, and theological anthropology that have shaped the Christological debate since the 1960s. Dr. Cowdell's conclusions in this fascinating survey are clear, thorough, and comprehensive. Is Jesus Unique? is a valuable resource for seminarians, graduate students, and the serious reader interested in understanding the chief directions in Christology today.

Is Jesus Unique?: A Study of Recent Christology (Theological Inquiries)

Paulist Pr

Leading Girardian theologian Scott Cowdell seeks to resolve a long-standing challenge to mimetic theory: that it entails a fundamental brutishness—an ontological violence. Girard’s account of scapegoating violence, seen as providing the initial stability for our species to emerge and consolidate, hardly seems compatible with Christian belief in God’s good creation, with violence only appearing after a subsequent Fall. The brilliant but controversial theologian John Milbank has long raised this concern about Girard, grounded in a remarkably sophisticated (though seldom fathomed) philosophical theology. Unpacking Milbank’s program, along with Girard’s recasting of Continental philosophy in light of mimetic theory, Cowdell finds a way between two apparently irreconcilable positions. With irenic spirit but analytic tenacity, he probes for ways through Milbank’s arguments while pressing on growth points in Girard’s. Cowdell’s proposals involve reframing divine creation in light of salvation history, reimagining divine participation by thinking Christ and evolution together, and developing a semiotic approach to mimetic theory that delivers ontological peace hermeneutically. Cowdell shows how Girard’s vision of human transformation through faith in Christ reveals a different world beyond ontological violence while preserving the divine participation that Milbank champions.

Mimetic Theory and Its Shadow: Girard, Milbank, and Ontological Violence (Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture)

Michigan State University Press

Church Matters

Coventry Press

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Books by Cowdell, Scott

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cowdell, Scott. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A God for This World

A God for This World

René Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis

René Girard and the Nonviolent God

René Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis

Is Jesus Unique?: A Study of Recent Christology (Theological Inquiries)

Mimetic Theory and Its Shadow: Girard, Milbank, and Ontological Violence (Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture)

Church Matters