Papers by Samuel Shearn
Modern Theology, 2022
This essay explores the development of Tillich’s writings on the relationship between divine prov... more This essay explores the development of Tillich’s writings on the relationship between divine providence and suffering, and his approach to theodicy. First, I attend to the various stations of his early life and his earliest writings in various genres. Here we see the instrumental-pedagogical theodicies of his student days and earliest preaching give way to an increased emphasis on the suffering of God. However, unlike many twentieth century theologies of suffering, Tillich retains a strong teleological notion of divine providence, even in the face of the horrors of the First World War. Second, I analyse Tillich’s American systematics and sermons against the background of his early writings, characterising his writings as a Hegelian approach to suffering, subsuming the individual under the teleology of divine creativity. Open access here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/moth.12808
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Religious Studies, Dec 2013
In this essay, moral anti-theodicy is characterized as opposition to the trivialization of suffer... more In this essay, moral anti-theodicy is characterized as opposition to the trivialization of suffering, defined as the reinterpretation of horrendous evils in a way the sufferer cannot accept. Ambitious theodicy (which claim goods emerge from specific evils) is deemed always to trivialize horrendous evils and, because there is no specific theoretical context, also harm sufferers. Moral anti-theodicy is susceptible to two main criticisms. First, it is over-demanding as a moral position. Second, anti-theodicist opposition to least ambitious theodicies, which portray God's decision to create as an ‘all-or-nothing’ scenario, requires a moral commitment to philosophical pessimism. Thus anti-theodicists should not be quick to take the moral high ground. However, this should not encourage theodicists, since theodicies may well be self-defeating in so far as they attempt to provide comfort.
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Florian Zemmin, Colin Jager, Guido Vanheeswijck (eds), Working With a Secular Age: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Charles Taylor's Master Narrative. Religion and Its Others 3 (Berlin/New York: Walter De Gruyter), 2016
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Edited books by Samuel Shearn
Fifty years after his death in 1965 the essays in this collection return to Paul Tillich to inves... more Fifty years after his death in 1965 the essays in this collection return to Paul Tillich to investigate his theology and its legacy, with a focus on contemporary British scholarship. Originating in a conference held in Oxford in 2014, the book contains 16 original contributions from a mixture of junior and more established scholars, most of whom have a connection to Britain.
The contributions are diverse, but four themes emerge throughout the volume. Several essays are concerning with a characterisation of Tillich's theology. In dialogue with recent emphases on the radical Tillich, some essays suggest a more conservative estimation of Tillich's theology, rooted in the Idealist and classical Christian platonic traditions, whilst in constant engagement with changing existential situations.
Secondly, and perhaps reflecting the context of religious diversity and theories of religious pluralism in Britain, many essays engage Tillich's approach to non-Christian religions. Thirdly, some essays address the importance of existentialist philosophy for Tillich, notably via an engagement with Sartre. Finally, a number of essays take up the diagnostic potential of Tillich's theology as a resource for engaging contemporary challenges.
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Conference Presentations by Samuel Shearn
This short talk was given for members of the public at the Ashmolean Museum during their DEAD Fri... more This short talk was given for members of the public at the Ashmolean Museum during their DEAD Friday event, 30th October 2015. It explores the theme of death by giving voice to the witness of theologian Paul Tillich from the First World War, where he served as an army chaplain 1914-1918. With translated excerpts from his letters and war sermons.
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In this paper I explore Taylor's characterisation of Nietzsche in 'A Secular Age' and the way Tay... more In this paper I explore Taylor's characterisation of Nietzsche in 'A Secular Age' and the way Taylor's Nietzsche is employed in the book's argumentative strategy.
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In this paper I offer a study of Martin Luther’s Vom ehelichen Leben (1522) and some sermons. I f... more In this paper I offer a study of Martin Luther’s Vom ehelichen Leben (1522) and some sermons. I focus on his understanding of masculinity within the state of marriage and explore how he speaks of the male body, sexuality and everyday embodied experience.
The male body is characterised as both honourable and endangered. The body is on the one hand God’s work whose form should be honoured and not mocked or despised, and sexual desire is God’s work which (despite the foolish oaths of celibacy) cannot be hindered more than eating, drinking, sleeping and excreting. On the other hand, marriage is a “hospital” for the disease of sin in which fleshly evil lust is no longer damning. Outside of that state, the male body becomes a liability to man.
Luther’s concept of marriage makes patriarchal and heterosexual assumptions. However, I will argue that his theological reflections do make him critical of some of his culture’s notions of masculinity. Furthermore, his theology of the created order carries implications for theological reflection about homosexuality.
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Ratzinger’s Eschatologie – Tod und ewiges Leben (1977) considered Liberation Theology and Moltman... more Ratzinger’s Eschatologie – Tod und ewiges Leben (1977) considered Liberation Theology and Moltmann’s Theology of Hope to be a dangerous secularisation of eschatology, and Catholic exegetes’ accounts of a ‘resurrection in death’ (influenced by the Protestant Ganztodthese) to be a ‘hermeneutical patchwork’ born out of biblicism. Thus it was perhaps little surprise that the book was understood by some as merely a reactionary defence of the church’s teachings. Nevertheless, Ratzinger would later refer to his Eschatology as his most thoroughly thought-through theological work.
Against the criticism that the church’s tradition has been hopelessly smothered by layers of Platonic metaphysics, Ratzinger on the one hand rehabilitates Plato’s position from popular theological clichés and claims that there is a close relationship between the eschatology of Plato and Christianity. On the other hand he argues that talk of the soul is theologically necessary, quite independently of Greek thought. Christian eschatology developed out of the logic of faith in Yahwe and in the light of the resurrection of Jesus, against the background of early Judaism. It is the inner logic of Christian faith which makes demands upon anthropology to give an account of the ‘Träger des Seins mit Christus’ after death.
So far, so orthodox. However, while Ratzinger seeks to read the tradition sympathetically, Ratzinger’s constructive contribution is a creative development of the tradition. He rejects a ‘substantialistic’ account of the soul and presents instead his account of ‘the dialogical immortality of the soul’ as expressing the relationality of humanity.
In this paper I will argue that a careful reading of Ratzinger’s eschatology reveals him to be a thoughtful thinker who offers a serious challenge to those who in the name of either theological purity or the church’s call to serve the world would leave no place for talk of an immortal soul.
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Reviews by Samuel Shearn
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DIese kurze Rezension der beiden Bücher war für die Webseite der Ev. Hochschule Tabor, Marburg. I... more DIese kurze Rezension der beiden Bücher war für die Webseite der Ev. Hochschule Tabor, Marburg. Ich beschreibe wie das Thema Religion im Buch zur Sprache kommt.
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Eine wohlgesinnte aber auch kritische Rezension von Francis Spuffords 'Heilige (Un)vernunft', die... more Eine wohlgesinnte aber auch kritische Rezension von Francis Spuffords 'Heilige (Un)vernunft', die deutsche Übersetzung von 'Unapologetic. Why Christianity, despite everything, makes surprising emotional sense'. Die Rezension war für die Webseite der Evangelischen Hochschule Tabor, Marburg, unter dem Rubrik 'Buch des Monats'.
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Other by Samuel Shearn
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Papers by Samuel Shearn
Edited books by Samuel Shearn
The contributions are diverse, but four themes emerge throughout the volume. Several essays are concerning with a characterisation of Tillich's theology. In dialogue with recent emphases on the radical Tillich, some essays suggest a more conservative estimation of Tillich's theology, rooted in the Idealist and classical Christian platonic traditions, whilst in constant engagement with changing existential situations.
Secondly, and perhaps reflecting the context of religious diversity and theories of religious pluralism in Britain, many essays engage Tillich's approach to non-Christian religions. Thirdly, some essays address the importance of existentialist philosophy for Tillich, notably via an engagement with Sartre. Finally, a number of essays take up the diagnostic potential of Tillich's theology as a resource for engaging contemporary challenges.
Conference Presentations by Samuel Shearn
The male body is characterised as both honourable and endangered. The body is on the one hand God’s work whose form should be honoured and not mocked or despised, and sexual desire is God’s work which (despite the foolish oaths of celibacy) cannot be hindered more than eating, drinking, sleeping and excreting. On the other hand, marriage is a “hospital” for the disease of sin in which fleshly evil lust is no longer damning. Outside of that state, the male body becomes a liability to man.
Luther’s concept of marriage makes patriarchal and heterosexual assumptions. However, I will argue that his theological reflections do make him critical of some of his culture’s notions of masculinity. Furthermore, his theology of the created order carries implications for theological reflection about homosexuality.
Against the criticism that the church’s tradition has been hopelessly smothered by layers of Platonic metaphysics, Ratzinger on the one hand rehabilitates Plato’s position from popular theological clichés and claims that there is a close relationship between the eschatology of Plato and Christianity. On the other hand he argues that talk of the soul is theologically necessary, quite independently of Greek thought. Christian eschatology developed out of the logic of faith in Yahwe and in the light of the resurrection of Jesus, against the background of early Judaism. It is the inner logic of Christian faith which makes demands upon anthropology to give an account of the ‘Träger des Seins mit Christus’ after death.
So far, so orthodox. However, while Ratzinger seeks to read the tradition sympathetically, Ratzinger’s constructive contribution is a creative development of the tradition. He rejects a ‘substantialistic’ account of the soul and presents instead his account of ‘the dialogical immortality of the soul’ as expressing the relationality of humanity.
In this paper I will argue that a careful reading of Ratzinger’s eschatology reveals him to be a thoughtful thinker who offers a serious challenge to those who in the name of either theological purity or the church’s call to serve the world would leave no place for talk of an immortal soul.
Reviews by Samuel Shearn
Other by Samuel Shearn
The contributions are diverse, but four themes emerge throughout the volume. Several essays are concerning with a characterisation of Tillich's theology. In dialogue with recent emphases on the radical Tillich, some essays suggest a more conservative estimation of Tillich's theology, rooted in the Idealist and classical Christian platonic traditions, whilst in constant engagement with changing existential situations.
Secondly, and perhaps reflecting the context of religious diversity and theories of religious pluralism in Britain, many essays engage Tillich's approach to non-Christian religions. Thirdly, some essays address the importance of existentialist philosophy for Tillich, notably via an engagement with Sartre. Finally, a number of essays take up the diagnostic potential of Tillich's theology as a resource for engaging contemporary challenges.
The male body is characterised as both honourable and endangered. The body is on the one hand God’s work whose form should be honoured and not mocked or despised, and sexual desire is God’s work which (despite the foolish oaths of celibacy) cannot be hindered more than eating, drinking, sleeping and excreting. On the other hand, marriage is a “hospital” for the disease of sin in which fleshly evil lust is no longer damning. Outside of that state, the male body becomes a liability to man.
Luther’s concept of marriage makes patriarchal and heterosexual assumptions. However, I will argue that his theological reflections do make him critical of some of his culture’s notions of masculinity. Furthermore, his theology of the created order carries implications for theological reflection about homosexuality.
Against the criticism that the church’s tradition has been hopelessly smothered by layers of Platonic metaphysics, Ratzinger on the one hand rehabilitates Plato’s position from popular theological clichés and claims that there is a close relationship between the eschatology of Plato and Christianity. On the other hand he argues that talk of the soul is theologically necessary, quite independently of Greek thought. Christian eschatology developed out of the logic of faith in Yahwe and in the light of the resurrection of Jesus, against the background of early Judaism. It is the inner logic of Christian faith which makes demands upon anthropology to give an account of the ‘Träger des Seins mit Christus’ after death.
So far, so orthodox. However, while Ratzinger seeks to read the tradition sympathetically, Ratzinger’s constructive contribution is a creative development of the tradition. He rejects a ‘substantialistic’ account of the soul and presents instead his account of ‘the dialogical immortality of the soul’ as expressing the relationality of humanity.
In this paper I will argue that a careful reading of Ratzinger’s eschatology reveals him to be a thoughtful thinker who offers a serious challenge to those who in the name of either theological purity or the church’s call to serve the world would leave no place for talk of an immortal soul.