Paul Dafydd Jones , University of Virginia

During my time at the Center of Theological Inquiry, I intend to begin work on my next book. The first half of the book will have an interpretative agenda: it will examine how five major European thinkers – Martin Luther, John Calvin, G. W. F. Hegel, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Karl Barth – understood Jesus Christ’s life, suffering, death, and resurrection. I’m particularly intrigued by the historical career of Luther’s construal of the “blessed exchange,” especially as it is taken up by Hegel and Barth; I want also to re-examine the sacerdotal and juridical dimensions of Calvin’s thought in comparison with the rather different perspective advanced by Schleiermacher. The second half of the book will be wholly constructive. I intend to develop the most valuable insights of previous authors, while also paying close attention to recent feminist and womanist critiques of classical perspectives. The (decidedly ambitious) goal is to articulate a liberationist theology of the cross.

Paul Dafydd Jones is Assistant Professor of Western Religious Thought in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. He holds an M.A. in Theology from Oxford University, an M.Div from Harvard Divinity School, and an A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. His first book – The Humanity of Christ: Christology in Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics – was published by T&T Clark in 2008. He has also authored a number of articles and essays, the most recent of which appeared in Political Theology.