Langdon Brown Gilkey

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Langdon Brown Gilkey (1919 – November 19, 2004) was an American Protestant Ecumenical theologian. A Harvard graduate, he moved to China to teach English in 1940 and was imprisoned by the Japanese in 1943. [1] He was Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School from 1977 till March 1989. He died of meningitis on November 19, 2004 at the University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville. [2]

Gilkey was a follower of neo-Orthodoxy, and believed in God's revelation to Christians. Consequently, he was a critic of naturalism, pantheism and dualism. Gilkey, however, believed that scripture was fallible and so took it symbollically, not literally [3]. Because of his experiences in the Japanese internment camp he responded to theologian Edgar Brightman, who believed in God because he believed that the course of history represented a steady, moral progress, by saying that "I believe in God because to me history precisely does not represent such a progress." [4]

Gilkey wrote several books:

  • Reaping the Whirlwind: A Christian Interpretation of History
  • Shantung Compound
  • Maker of Heaven and Earth: The Christian Doctrine of Creation in the Light of Modern Knowledge
  • Through the Tempest: Theological Voyages in a Pluralistic Culture
  • Nature, Reality, and the Sacred: The Nexus of Science and Religion
  • Creationism on Trial: Evolution and God at Little Rock
  • Blue Twilight: Nature, Creationism, and American Religion
  • On Niebuhr: A Theological Study
  • Society and the Sacred: Toward a Theology of Culture in Decline
  • Gilkey on Tillich
  • Religion and the Scientific Future: Reflections on Myth, Science, and Theology
  • Message and Existence: An Introduction to Christian Theology
  • Contemporary Explosion of Theology: Ecumenical Studies in Theology
  • Catholicism Confronts Modernity: A Protestant View

[edit] Notes

  1. ↑  Timothy R. Phillips, entry "Gilkey, Langdon Brown" in "Evangelical Dictionary of Theology", Baker Reference Library, p.482.
  2. ↑  Adam Bernstein, "Langdon Gilkey Dies; Theologian, Author, Educator", Washington Post.
  3. ↑  Timothy R. Phillips, entry "Gilkey, Langdon Brown" in "Evangelical Dictionary of Theology", Baker Reference Library.
  4. ↑  Adam Bernstein, "Langdon Gilkey Dies; Theologian, Author, Educator", Washington Post.

[edit] References

  • Bernstein, Adam (November 22, 2004). ""Langdon Gilkey Dies; Theologian, Author, Educator". Washington Post. p. B06.
  • Elwell, Walter A. (editor); et al. (2001). "Evangelical Dictionary of Theology". Baker Reference Library. ISBN 0-8010-2075-1 (U.S.) ISBN 1-84227-082-8.

[edit] Further reading

  • The Theology of Langdon Gilkey: Systematic and Critical Studies, Kyle Pasewark and Jeff Pool, editors, Merer University
  • Whirlwind in Culture: Frontiers in Theology—in Honor of Langdon Gilkey, D. W. Musser and J. L. Price, editors
  • "Plurality and Its Theological Implications" in The Myth of Christian Uniqueness, John Hick and Paul Knitter, editors
  • Religious Language in a Secular Culture: A Study in the Thought of Langdon Gilkey, J Shea
  • Langdon Gilkey: Theologian for a Culture in Decline, B. Walsh.
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