Theology at Cultural Critique: The Achievement of Julian Hartt

At one time in the twentieth century, debates about “theology of culture” brought together an otherwise diverse group of Paul Tillich, Richard Kroner, H. Richard Niebuhr, Reinhold Niebuhr, Nicholai Berdyaev, Emil Brunner, Bernard Meland, and Julian Hartt. Jonathan Wilson here retrieves the important and influential work of Julian Hartt and argues from him that we must learn that theology that is faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is “theology as cultural critique.” Hartt’s practice of theology as cultural critique is grounded in his convictions about the Gospel but the concept of theology as cultural critique arises from his analysis of “theology of culture.” This first critical study of the work of Julian Hartt is an account of how the discipline of theology engages in cultural critique.