Christian Contradictions: The Structures of Lutheran and Catholic Thought (review)

Daphne Hampson, Christian Contradictions: The Structures of Lutheran and Catholic Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 323 pp.

A post-Christian feminist, Hampson examines the distinct theological matrices of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran communions. The essential difference between them comes down to how human beings stand before God: does a person have anything to offer before the Almighty as his or her own other than sin? Hampson demonstrates that Catholic theologians, even with the best of intentions, have consistently failed to understand the Lutheran position. But the Lutheran focus on trust in God's promises seems to exclude any real idea of love for one's Creator. Hampson offers Kierkegaard's theology as a possible corrective, but ultimately rejects both positions as rooted in superseded ways of thinking and argues for a post-Christian reconsideration of the points at issue. Not all readers will agree, but the frank presentation of the irreconcilable differences between two distinct ways of understanding the content of the Christian revelation is a service to believers and nonbelievers alike.