The Making of American Liberal Theology: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity, 1950-2005

In this concluding volume of his magisterial trilogy, Gary Dorrien sustains his previous definition of liberal theology and his mixture of theological, philosophical, and historical analysis, while emphasizing the unprecedented diversity of liberal theology in the postmodern age. Dorrien argues that liberal theology has been in crisis for the past half-century, yet despite the crisis, and also because of it, it has also experienced a "hidden renaissance" of intellectual creativity. Liberal theology in the early twenty-first century is more diverse, complex, and marginalized than ever before in its history, he concludes, but its essential idea--creating a progressive, credible, integrative third way between orthodox over-belief and secular unbelief--remains as necessary as ever.