Blackwell Reference Online

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William Placher (currently professor of philosophy and religion at Wabash College) is yet another graduate student of Yale and a postliberal theologian. Along with George Hunsinger he helped publish two collections of Hans Frei's essays in the early 1990s: Types of Christian Theology (New Haven, CT, 1992) and Theology and Narrative: Selected Essays (New York, 1993). Frei himself taught at Wabash early in his career. Placher's own work develops some key issues within theological postliberalism: narrative, scripture, the ecclesial community, revelation, and Christology. He began ambitiously with A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction (Louisville, KY, 1983), followed by the two volumes of Readings in the History of Christian Theology, the first From Its Beginnings to the Eve of the Reformation (Louisville, KY, 1988) and the second From the Reformation to the Present Day (Louisville, KY, 1988). What is evident in this work and in the essay below is Placher's practical, even pastoral concerns. His early books demonstrate a determination to provide students at universities and colleges with a route-map through the history of Christian faith, and also source material for analyzing various vistas along the way. Particularly in the second volume, with its introduction of contemporary theological voices (black and feminist among others), Placher's pastoral concerns can ... log in or subscribe to read full text