Jesus Creed

Jesus Creed

Third Way Thinkers Writers

posted by Scot McKnight | 12:20am Monday January 12, 2009

Who then are the Third Way thinkers and writers? The other day I accidentally posted this and then took it down when I realized it, but Andy Rowell (see below) caught it first and contributed a wonderful set of links to the names below. Here is a listing of some of the Third Way thinkers … this is just a start … and you can mention others.


I could list many more, and you can mention some you think apply but
this is a first attempt at listing those that are for one reason or
another Third Way thinkers. (“Third Way” is my expression and the
scholars below may not accept this for themselves.) Here is a general
link to Amazon and you can look up their books from that page (Amazon Search).

In
Old Testament studies, these names come to mind: John Goldingay
(Fuller), Iain Provan (Regent), and Hugh G.M. Williamson (Oxford).

In
New Testament studies at least these names, and I’ve added a few since
the original mistaken post: N.T. Wright (Bishop of Durham), James D.G.
Dunn (retired from Durham), JB Green and MM Thompson from Fuller,
Richard Hays (Duke), Rob Wall (Seattle Pacific), Michael Bird (Highland
Theological in Scotland).

Theology is so big it is hard to know
where to start or stop, but I think of John Franke (Biblical Seminary),
F. LeRon Shults (Norway at Christiansand), Kevin Vanhoozer (Trinity),
the late Stan Grenz, Miroslav Volf (Yale), John Stackhouse (Regent),
and Kevin Corcoran (Calvin).

Thanks to Andy Rowell for these links:

Old Testament:
John Goldingay (Fuller)
http://fuller.edu/faculty.aspx?id=2266&terms=goldingay
Iain Provan (Regent College)
http://www.regent-college.edu/about_regent/faculty/provan_iain.html
Hugh G. M. Williamson (Oxford)
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/html/staff/hjs/hwilliamson.html

New Testament:
N.T. Wright (Bishop of Durham, Church of England)
http://www.durham.anglican.org/diocese-and-admin/bishops.aspx
James D.G. Dunn (Durham, UK)
http://www.dur.ac.uk/theology.religion/staff/?username=vs000217
Joel Green (Fuller)
http://fuller.edu/faculty.aspx?id=2278&terms=joel+green
Marianne Meye Thompson (Fuller)
http://fuller.edu/faculty.aspx?id=3068&terms=thompson

Theology:
John Franke (Biblical Seminary, Pennsylvania)
http://www.biblical.edu/pages/discover/faculty-directory.htm
LeRon Shults (Norway)
http://leronshults.typepad.com/
Kevin Vanhoozer (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)
http://www.tiu.edu/divinity/people/vanhoozer
Stanley Grenz (1950-2005) (Carey Theological College and Regent College)
http://www.stanleyjgrenz.com/
Miroslav Volf (Yale, formerly of Fuller)
http://www.yale.edu/divinity/faculty/Fac.MVolf.shtml
John Stackhouse (Regent College)
http://stackblog.wordpress.com/



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Comments read comments(20)
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Kyle

posted January 10, 2009 at 1:35 am


Off the top of my head, I’d add Nancey Murphy to the theologians list. Although he’s written less, what about Rikki Watts for NT as well. I’d add Eugene Peterson as the chaplain of third way thinkers as well…at least I’ve been greatly ministered to through his writing.



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JR Woodward

posted January 10, 2009 at 1:44 am


Scot,
I have been enjoying The Post-Foundationalist Task of Theology by Shultz,that talks about this emerging view. Have you read that book yet? I have found it helpful. Hope all is well. Peace.



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Dave

posted January 10, 2009 at 1:47 am


Would you not include Peter Davids, Warren Carter and Fredrick Dale Bruner for NT? Maybe also Ben Witherington III.



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Brad Boydston

posted January 10, 2009 at 2:07 am


NT: NT Wright, JDG Dunn, JB Green, MM Thompson, S McKnight



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Derek

posted January 12, 2009 at 3:12 am


I agree with Dave on Ben Witherington in the NT area.



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phil_style

posted January 12, 2009 at 3:58 am


Scott, FYI: the link to LeRon Shultz Blog page is incorrect. The text you have is right, but the hyperlink goes to a Webmail page.
you can delete this comment once read. .



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James Petticrew

posted January 12, 2009 at 4:09 am


Having had a class with him not sure about Ben Witherington



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Ted M. Gossard

posted January 12, 2009 at 5:54 am

Ted M. Gossard

posted January 12, 2009 at 6:40 am


I really have enjoyed the book entitled “The Holy Spirit” by LeRon Shults and Andrea Hollingsworth which you called our attention to recently, Scot. Nearly finished, and quite stimulating. Makes me want to press on and work through the two books I have by Shults.



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Jim Martin

posted January 12, 2009 at 6:50 am


Scot,
This post (along with the various links) is very helpful and is definitely a “keeper.” Thanks so much for this. Will be helpful in my reading.



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Jon

posted January 12, 2009 at 7:26 am


Scot,
Peter Enns is a third way thinker in OT don’t you think? Reading through his book ‘inspiration and incarnation’ and the beginning part (i’m still in chapter 1) makes me think that he belongs in the ‘third way’ thinker writers.



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Frog Leg

posted January 12, 2009 at 7:57 am


Third Way thinkers are not limited to Protestants. The late Raymond Brown (the preeminent Catholic scholar on the Gospel of John) certainly belongs in the Third Way category.



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Scot McKnight

posted January 12, 2009 at 8:02 am


Jon,
Definitely … Pete Enns is a Third Way thinker. I thought I had him in … and there are so many so keep the names coming.



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dopderbeck

posted January 12, 2009 at 9:44 am


Theology: (you will see here that my view of a “third way” is heavily influenced by evangelical Barthians):
Karl Barth. The original third way thinker.
Donald Bloesch. In my view, one of the most rigorous and satisfying systematicians.
Thomas Torrance. Would have thought of himself as simply “orthodox” rather than third way, I think, but Torrance is an essential resource for folks from a conservative evangelical background looking for a third way alternative.
Clark Pinnock. I have to be honest, open theism isn’t my bag. But otherwise I think Pinnock is spot-on.
Alister McGrath. He writes too much and get sloppy, but his “Scientific Theology” is a must.
Bernard Ramm. His later work, particularly “After Fundamentalism.”
Leslie Newbiggin. Essential on mission and pluralism.
Darrell Gruder: “Missional Church” is a third way manifesto.
Amos Yong. Fascinating work on pluralism and faith-science issues.
Pope John Paul II. One of the most profound Christian thinkers and activists in the history of the Church. I’d call him “third way” because he bridges so many different strands of historic Christian thought.
New Testament:
Richard Bauckham. Particularly on eschatology.
Others:
Christopher Wright.
Roger Olson.
Thomas Oden. More “traditionalist” than many third-wayers, but the paleo-orthodoxy thread is important.
Kent Sparks. “God’s Word in Human Words” — important contribution to the discussion about scripture.
Andy Crouch. “Culture Making” and his related blog.
John Milbank. Milbank isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but “Radical Orthodoxy” is rich in resources for third way thinkers.
James K.A. Smith. An excellent postmodern / Reformed approach to Milbank.
Glenn Stassen and David Gusshee on ethics. “Kingdom Ethics” is the essentially “third way” Christian ethics text, IMHO.
Jeffrey Stout — want some incredibly dense political theory that deconstructs both the left and right?
Daniel Harrell and Denis Alexander — on faith and science issues.



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Aaron

posted January 12, 2009 at 11:50 am


I wonder why Ben Witherington III Didnt make the list?



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Erik Leafblad

posted January 12, 2009 at 9:08 pm


Dopderbeck,
I LOVE your list. Especially the part about Barth being the original third way thinker. And Jeff Stout: brilliant inclusion.
I’d add a few practical theologians: Andrew Root, Kenda Creasy Dean, and Jason Brian Santos.



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gordon

posted January 12, 2009 at 11:12 pm


Michael Gorman NT



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Mark Traphagen

posted January 12, 2009 at 11:59 pm


Who’s this “jon”? I totally mentioned Pete Enns first in the deleted thread! Ah well, long as he gets mentioned it’s all good. Loving the third way stuff, Scott.



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Stephen

posted January 27, 2009 at 3:15 pm


No Brueggemann?



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Patrick Oden

posted March 10, 2009 at 7:11 pm


I’d add Nancey Murphy to this list too, like Kyle suggested. Indeed, I’m feeling like chapter 5 in her Anglo-American Postmodernity book gets quite at what I’ve heard discussed about “Third Way”.
And I’d definitely add J?rgen Moltmann. He has stated that the old liberal/conservative divide has little or no meaning anymore.
I might also add Gutierrez as a Catholic expression of this. He’s quite progressive in some ways while very attentive to conservative theology and maintaining ecclesial commitments.



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