John Milbank

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John Milbank is a controversial Christian theologian who is Professor of Religion, Politics and Ethics at the University of Nottingham. He previously taught at the University of Virginia and before that at the University of Cambridge. He was born and educated in Britain. A key part of the controversy surrounding Milbank concerns his view of the relationship between theology and the social sciences. He argues that the social sciences are a product of the modern ethos of secularism, which stems from an ontology of violence. Theology, therefore, should not seek to make constructive use of social theory, for theology itself offers a comprehensive vision of all reality, extending to the social and political. Milbank is sometimes described as a metaphysical theologian, in that he is concerned with establishing a Christian trinitarian ontology. He relies heavily on aspects of Plato's thought, and also on Augustine. Together with Graham Ward and Catherine Pickstock, he has helped forge a new trajectory in constructive theology known as "radical orthodoxy" -- a predominantly Anglo-Catholic sensibility highly critical of modernity.

[edit] Books

Theology and Social Theory, 1990 - (ISBN 0-631-18948-3)
The Word Made Strange, 1997 - (ISBN 0-631-20336-2)
Truth in Aquinas, with Catherine Pickstock 2000 - (ISBN 0-415-23335-6)
Being Reconciled: Ontology and Pardon, 2003 - (ISBN 0-415-30525-X)
The Suspended Middle: Henri de Lubac and the Debate concerning the Supernatural, 2005 - (ISBN 0-8028-2899-X)

[edit] Essays by Milbank that appear in edited volumes

"The Last of the Last: Theology in the Church", found in Conflicting Allegiances: The Church-Based University in a Liberal Democratic Society, 2004 - (ISBN 1-58743-063-0)
"Alternative Protestantism: Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition", found in Radical Orthodoxy And the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, And Participation, 2005 - (ISBN 0-8010-2756-X)