An American theology

Open Access

Abstract

In a bold, provocative book, Toward An American Theology a young American theologian makes his debut. Herbert Richardson, who is only 36, is an assistant professor of theology at Harvard Divinity School. Heretofore he has only been known in American theological circles, and then not widely, but this book alone establishes him as a profound, creative thinker who will have to be reckoned with in the future. This slight but significant work contains five essays which are very diverse in form and subject matter, but which are yet integrally related to the principal concern of how to formulate a meaningful theology for a modern, technical civilization. Richardson's thesis in brief is this: We are living in a time of historical transition which is also a time of general cultural crisis. In such a period there is a breakdown of habitual modes of thought and action with the result that language no longer functions meaningfully. The new period of history which is beginning will be dominated by social techniques developed by the sociological, psychological, economic, and political sciences. It is a "sociotechnic age," an age which presages a new cultural epoch. We are on the verge of a cybernetic society where rational techniques are applied not only to the production of goods but also to the organization of society. This will require a new theological and institutional expression of Christianity: not one of adjustment—the liberal solution—butone which will develop a conception of God, an eschatological symbolism, and new ethical principles which will relate to and undergird the primary realities of the new cybernetic world.