The Death of God: An Investigation into the History of the Western Concept of God

Description

While for the largest part of its history humankind has experienced its daily life in the 'here and now' in terms of a more fundamental, transcendent realm, a significant group of Westerners, in contrast, is living life without any reference to such a transcendent realm. From a Christian perspective, this situation is complicated by the fact that this loss of transcendence occurred in the Christian West. This raises the question of the relation between Christianity and secularization. How did the idea of the "Death of God" come about, where were its origins? Frederiek Depoortere presents a fascinating investigation into the history of the concept of God through Greek philosophy, Mediaeval theology, the Reformation to Early Modern philosophy. He proves that the roots of modern secularism can be traced back to the epistemology of the first metaphysicians of Greek philosophy and the Christian theologians, who developed their concepts further.

Dr Frederiek Depoortere is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) at the Faculty of Theology, K.U.Leuven (Belgium) and a member of the research group 'Theology in a Postmodern Context'.

"It seems to me that the author presents a fascinating and clearly developed account of how it was that philosophy in the West came to a place where the concept of God was considered to be redundant. Such a project must of necessity grapple with an array of complex movements and developments within Western thought over a period of some two thousand years and this has been done proficiently. He chooses his interlocutors well and offers scholarly and informative analyses of their central ideas as they relate to his theme. The breadth of sources and the depth of issues requires remarkable skill and insight... I am sure there are many who will be engaged, enlightened and encouraged to think further by this serious study as it grapples with the relation of Greek philosophy to Christian belief in the history of Western thought." Alan Spence "This volume, [Depoortere's] first in English, provides the grounds for his later post-structuralist work. It explains... how it could happen that God died sometime during the history of Western thought." Theologische Literaturzeitung 134 (2009) 12 -- Philip Clayton "Frederiek Depoortere's slim volume is an expansive history of the Western concept of God, from the Milesians to Nietzsche, with particular attention to 'how we have lost God in the West (viii).'...Depoortere has written a refreshing, interesting, and courageous volume. Well-written and well-edited, it is an informative source for students of theology and philosophy. Depoortere also shows signs of humor--look for references to Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman!" -Gesa Elsbeth Thiessen, Theological Studies, Sept. 2009