Thinking the Faith with Passion: Selected Essays: The Paul L. Holmer Papers: 2

Synopsis: In his teaching and his writing Paul L. Holmer (1916-2004) Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota (1946-1960) and Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School (1960-1987) made many important contributions to recent American theology. One of the most insightful American students of Kierkegaard of his generation Holmer perceived early on Wittgensteins importance for theology and employed both thinkers to inspire his own fresh consideration of perennial issues in philosophical theology: understanding belief faith the emotions and the importance of the virtues. While best known for his essays in The Grammar of Faith (1978) Holmer penned numerous other interesting and original essays some published but many unpublished which circulated widely in typescript during his tenure at Yale. Following his death the Holmer family in 2005 donated his papers to the Yale Divinity School Library; in reviewing Holmers papers the editors have chosen a selection of his most seminal essays beyond those in The Grammar of Faith demonstrating the breadth and range of his contributions. In this the second volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers the editors present pieces that illuminate four significant areas of Holmers contributions: essays on Kierkegaard; essays on Wittgenstein; Theology Understanding and Faith; and Emotions Passions and Virtues. Taken together these essays invite in-depth exploration of the thought of this important American philosophical theologian. This is the second volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers which includes also volume 1 On Kierkegaard and Truth: Selected Essays and volume 3 Communicating the Faith Indirectly: Selected Sermons Addresses and Prayers. Endorsement: Disciplined by a careful undogmatic appropriation of Wittgensteins later achievements Paul Holmer may just be the best balanced and most plainspoken expositor of Kierkegaards ethical-religious thought in the English language to date. Holmer was an outstanding teacher and this collection is a treasure for those privileged to hear his lectures and for those who did not. -Robert L. Perkins Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Stetson University DeLand Florida This collection of previously published and unpublished essays by Paul L. Holmer on a wide range of topics demonstrates his incisive thought and writing on some of the perplexing knots of understanding in philosophy and theology which he sought to untie with exceptional acuity and conceptual clarity by way of Kierkegaard Wittgenstein and his own pioneering efforts in the rehabilitation of virtue ethics in our time. -Sylvia Walsh Scholar in Residence Stetson University Editor Biography: David J. Gouwens is Professor of Theology at Brite Divinity School. He is the author of Kierkegaards Dialectic of the Imagination (1989) and Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker (1996). Lee C. Barrett III is Stager Professor of Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Heidelberg Catechism (2007) Foundations of Modern Theology: Kierkegaard (2009) and co-editor of Kierkegaard and the Bible (2010).