Radical Orthodoxy

Radical orthodoxy is a Christian theological and philosophical school of thought which makes use of postmodern philosophy to reject the paradigm of modernity. The movement was founded by John Milbank and others and takes its name from the title of a collection of essays published by Routledge in 1999: Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology, edited by Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, and Graham Ward. Although the principal founders of the movement are Anglicans, radical orthodoxy includes theologians from a number of ecclesial traditions. Radical orthodoxy is a Christian theological and philosophical school of thought which makes use of postmodern philosophy to reject the paradigm of modernity. The movement was founded by John Milbank and others and takes its name from the title of a collection of essays published by Routledge in 1999: Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology, edited by Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, and Graham Ward. Although the principal founders of the movement are Anglicans, radical orthodoxy includes theologians from a number of ecclesial traditions. Radical orthodoxy's beginnings are found in the Radical Orthodoxy series of books, the first of which (Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology) was edited by John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, and Graham Ward. Milbank's Theology and Social Theory (1990), while not part of this series, is considered the first significant text of the movement. The name radical orthodoxy was chosen initially since it was a more 'snappy' title for the book series — initially Milbank considered the movement to be 'postmodern critical Augustinianism', emphasizing the use of a reading of Augustine of Hippo influenced by the insights of postmodernism in the work of the group. The name was also chosen in opposition to certain strands of so-called radical theology, for example those of John Shelby Spong; those strands asserted a highly liberal version of Christian faith where certain doctrines, for example the Trinity and the incarnation of God in Christ, were denied in an attempt to respond to modernity: in contrast to this, radical orthodoxy attempted to show how the orthodox interpretation of Christian faith (as given primarily in the ecumenical creeds) was the more radical response to contemporary issues and more rigorous and intellectually sustainable. Milbank has summarized radical orthodoxy in seven interrelated main ideas: Underlying these is the return to theology as the 'queen of the sciences' or the highest of all possible human knowledge, and a postmodern reaffirmation of ancient and medieval orthodox theologies. Henri de Lubac's theological work on the distinction of nature and grace has been influential in the movement's articulation of ontology. Hans Urs von Balthasar's theological aesthetics and literary criticism are also influential. The strong critique of liberalism found in much of radical orthodoxy has its origin in the work of Karl Barth. The Oxford Movement and the Cambridge Platonists are also key influences of radical orthodoxy. A form of neoplatonism plays a significant role in radical orthodoxy. Syrian Iamblichus of Chalcis (c. 245–325) and the Byzantine Proclus (412–485) are occasionally sourced, while the theology of Augustine of Hippo, Gregory of Nyssa, Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, and Meister Eckhart is often drawn upon. One of the key tasks of radical orthodoxy is to criticize the philosophy of Duns Scotus. Duns Scotus's theory that the term 'being' is used univocally of God and creatures is often presented as the precursor of modernity. This reading of Scotus has been criticised itself by Daniel Horan and Thomas Williams, both of whom claim that the radical orthodox movement confuses Scotus' epistemology and semantics with ontology. The majority within the movement appear to support John Milbank's 'Blue Socialism' in politics, although some have aligned with the traditionalist-conservative 'Red Tory' movement in the UK and Canada.