Thinking the Faith with Passion: Selected Essays

In his teaching and his writing, Paul L. Holmer (1916-2004), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota (1946-1960) and Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School (1960-1987), made many important contributions to recent American theology. One of the most insightful American students of Kierkegaard of his generation, Holmer perceived early on Wittgenstein's importance for theology, and employed both thinkers to inspire his own fresh consideration of perennial issues in philosophical theology: understanding, belief, faith, the emotions, and the importance of the virtues. While best known for his essays in 'The Grammar of Faith' (1978), Holmer penned numerous other interesting and original essays, some published but many unpublished, which circulated widely in typescript during his tenure at Yale. Following his death, the Holmer family in 2005 donated his papers to the Yale Divinity School Library; in reviewing Holmer's papers, the editors have chosen a selection of his most seminal essays, beyond those in The Grammar of Faith, demonstrating the breadth and range of his contributions. In this, the second volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers, the editors present pieces that illuminate four significant areas of Holmer's contributions: essays on Kierkegaard; essays on Wittgenstein; Theology, Understanding, and Faith; and Emotions, Passions, and Virtues. Taken together, these essays invite in-depth exploration of the thought of this important American philosophical theologian. This is the second volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers, which includes also volume 1, 'On Kierkegaard and the Truth', and volume 3, 'Communicating the Faith Indirectly: Selected Sermons, Addresses, and Prayers'.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Don E. Saliers Editors' Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations PART ONE: Essays on Kierkegaard 1 Kierkegaard and Philosophy 2 Kierkegaard and Logic 3 Kierkegaard and Theology 4 About Being a Person: Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling PART TWO: Essays on Wittgenstein 5 W ittgenstein and Kierkegaard: The Subjective Thinker 6 W ittgenstein and the Self 7 W ittgenstein and Theology PART THREE: Theology, Understanding, and Faith 8 The Academic Game and Its Logic 9 About Linguisticality and Being Able to Talk 10 About "Understanding" 11 About Understanding and Religious Belief 12 The Nature of Religious Propositions PART FOUR: Emotions, Passions, and Virtues 13 Theology and Emotions 14 About Emotions and Passions 15 The Human Heart - The Logic of a Metaphor 16 About Happiness and the Concept, "Happiness" 17 Something about What Makes It Funny 18 The Case for the Virtues 19 About Thankfulness Afterword: Paul L. Holmer: Self-Effacing, Swaggering, Nonpareil - David Cain Appendix: Paul L. Holmer: A Select Bibliography Bibliography Index of Names Index of Subjects

About the Author :
David J. Gouwens is Professor of Theology at Brite Divinity School. He is the author of 'Kierkegaard's Dialectic of the Imagination' (1989) and 'Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker' (1996). Lee C. Barrett III is Stager Professor of Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of 'The Heidelberg Catechism' (2007), 'Foundations of Modern Theology: Kierkegaard' (2009), and co-editor of 'Kierkegaard and the Bible' (2010). David J. Gouwens is Professor of Theology at Brite Divinity School. He is the author of 'Kierkegaard's Dialectic of the Imagination' (1989) and 'Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker' (1996). Lee C. Barrett III is Stager Professor of Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of 'The Heidelberg Catechism' (2007), 'Foundations of Modern Theology: Kierkegaard' (2009), and co-editor of 'Kierkegaard and the Bible' (2010).

Review :
"Holmer convincingly argues that Kierkegaard is a careful and rigorous thinker whose strictures against Hegelian rationalism and Complacent Christendom should not be read as mere subjectivist irrationalism. Rather Kierkegaard wishes to relate philosophy and theology to the subjective human condition as he had experienced it.[...]University students in Philosophy and Theology, both undergraduate and postgraduate will find much in these essays to stimulate." -Christopher Villiers, Theological Book Review, volume 26, no 1, 2014 "Highly esteemed by colleagues and students alike, this collection of essays enables those unfamiliar with Paul L. Holmer to better glimpse the sagacity of the man who had significant influence on the academic study of theology in the United States. Of the nineteen essays that comprise this volume eleven are published here for the first time." -Andrew R. Johnson, The Expository Times, Vol. 127 No. 9, June 2016