John Milbank

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.

Books

• Theology and Social Theory, 1990 - (ISBN 0631189483)
• The Word Made Strange, 1997 - (ISBN 0631203362)
• Truth in Aquinas, with Catherine Pickstock 2000 - (ISBN 0415233356)
• Being Reconciled: Ontology and Pardon, 2003 - (ISBN 041530525X)
• The Suspended Middle: Henri de Lubac and the Debate concerning the Supernatural, 2005 - (ISBN 080282899X)

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 1587430630)
• "Alternative Protestantism: Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition", found in Radical Orthodoxy And the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, And Participation, 2005 - (ISBN 080102756X)

External links

• The Ethics of Self-Sacrifice article in First Things (1999)
• "Christ the Exception" from the Center of Theological Inquiry
• University Profile at the University of Nottingham
• The Centre of Theology and Philosophy, of which Milbank is the director.