The Domestication of Transcendence: How Modern Thinking about God Went Wrong » (1st Edition)

William Placher looks at "classical" Christian theology (Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Martin Luther) and contrasts it with the Christian discourse about God that evolved in the seventeenth century. In particular, he deals with the notion of transcendence that gained prominence in this era and its impact on modern theology and modern thinking today. He persuasively argues that useful lessons can be drawn from premodern thinking about God, especially when viewed within the context of contemporary objections to it. This reexamination, according to Placher, has practical and profound implications for modern theology.

Library Journal

Placher (theology, Wabash Coll.) argues that much contemporary discourse about God is directed at a mistaken understanding of the classical Christian doctrines of God. Placher uses the doctrines formulated by Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin to recapture a sense of God's transcendence in the modern age. Placher's book is an elegant theological essay that exposes the wealth of Christian history as well as the bankruptcy of much modern God-talk. Recommended for most libraries.