Title:  In Search of a Non-Dogmatic Theology Author:  Jeffrey W. Robbins,  Philosophical and Cultural Studies in Religion Imprint:  The Davies Group, Publishers soft cover 228pp. USD 24.00 ISBN 978-1888570595 October  2003 Is theology necessarily dogmatic? If not, then what makes theology specifically theological? And what value does theological thinking still have in our postmodern age of religious pluralism, philosophical skepticism, and cultural relativism? In Search of a Non-Dogmatic Theology is Jeffrey W. Robbins’ grappling with these central questions and his attempt to give voice to what is emerging as a transformed religious and theological sensibility. From the philosophical accounting of Nietzsche’s proclamation of the ‘death of God,’ to the cultural ramifications of postmodern pluralism, to the global rise of religious fundamentalism, and to the more recent ‘theological turn’ of phenomenology, the contemporary conditions of theological possibility have been unalterably marked. The non-dogmatic theology Robbins proposes is a post-critical theology that is simultaneously an affirmation of the traditional theological pattern of ‘faith seeking understanding,’ and a radical recasting of that tradition by the realization of the changing structure of faith and the changing fundaments of intelligibility. It is a search that constructively engages the theological legacy of continental philosophical thinkers such as Heidegger, Levinas, Deleuze, and Derrida, cultural theorists such as Žižek and Kristeva, and contemporary theologians and philosophers of religion such as Barth, Marion, Winquist, and Caputo. In In Search of a Non-Dogmatic Theology, Robbins invites the reader to join him in this timely search for a more relevant and less dogmatic form of theological thinking, one that takes as its starting point not the assurances offered by a blindly accepted faith, but rather the concrete reality of diverging religious traditions and conflicting interests. The non-dogmatic theology he proposes is a post-critical theology that is simultaneously an affirmation of the traditional theological pattern of ‘faith seeking understanding,’ and a radical recasting of that tradition by the realization of the changing structure of faith and the changing fundamentals of intelligibility. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part One: Re-Placing Theology Chapter One: The Return of Religion Chapter Two: Theology in the Ruins Chapter Three: Theology without Religion? Part Two: The Step Back Chapter Four: Heidegger’s Step Back Chapter Five: Ontotheology: Complications Chapter Six: The Theological Turn Part Three: Theology at the Margins Chapter Seven: The Enlightenment at the Margins Chapter Eight: The Ethics of Ethics Chapter Nine: The Law of Religion Conclusion Endnotes Index Review “A theology without God, a God without being, a religion without religion, and an ethics against ethics—that is the daunting, postmodern challenge and the setting in which Jeff Robbins puts forth an uncompromising argument on behalf of theology. Robbins make a plea for a theological thinking that genuinely thinks, that genuinely confronts reality—moral, cultural, and ultimate reality. Defending the possibility of a theology that is neither conservative nor reactionary nor in league with authoritarianism, Robbins leads in a lively style through the thickets of all the major debates in contemporary religious and philosophical thought. The result is a non-dogmatic, pragmatic, pluralistic theology for a postmodern age that adds an important new voice to the current dialogue.” — John D. Caputo Author Jeffrey W. Robbins is Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy, and director of the college colloquium and the American Studies program at Lebanon Valley College, where he has been named the Thomas Rhys Vickroy Teacher of the Year. He is the author or editor of five books, including most recently Radical Democracy and Political Theology (2011). He is a contributing editor of the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, and serves on the steering committee of the "Theology and the Political" consultation group of the American Academy of Religion.  He has been hailed by the Journal of the American Academy of Religion as "one of the best commentators on religion and postmodernism."