Third Way Thinkers Writers

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.

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

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. .

Kevin Corcoran http://www.calvin.edu/academic/philosophy/corcoran/ and here is his blog: http://holyskinandbone.blogspot.com/

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Jürgen 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.