The Predicament of Postmodern Theology

This monograph examines the philosophical foundations and internal tensions of postmodern theology, particularly as developed by theologians such as Mark C. Taylor, Don Cupitt, and Thomas Altizer. Hyman argues that postmodern theology, despite its radical critique of traditional theological categories, remains trapped within the very metaphysical framework it seeks to overcome. The work demonstrates how postmodern theological discourse, in its attempt to move beyond ontotheology and the metaphysics of presence, paradoxically reinscribes the binary oppositions and conceptual structures it claims to deconstruct.

The author traces the intellectual genealogy of postmodern theology through its engagement with continental philosophy, particularly the work of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida. Hyman shows how postmodern theologians appropriate deconstructive strategies to dissolve traditional concepts of God, presence, and transcendence, yet in doing so, they create new forms of theological discourse that remain dependent on the very categories they reject. This predicament manifests in the tendency of postmodern theology to oscillate between nihilistic dissolution and crypto-theological affirmation, unable to escape the gravitational pull of the theological tradition it critiques.

Central to Hyman's analysis is the claim that postmodern theology's failure stems from its incomplete understanding of deconstruction and its implications for theological discourse. He argues that figures like Taylor and Cupitt misread Derrida's project as a simple negation of presence rather than a more nuanced interrogation of the conditions of possibility for any discourse about presence or absence. This misreading leads to a theological position that merely inverts traditional categories rather than genuinely transforming them.

The monograph contributes to debates about the viability of theological discourse after the "death of God" by exposing the conceptual aporias within postmodern theological projects. Hyman's work is particularly significant for its methodological rigor in applying philosophical analysis to contemporary theology, demonstrating how careful attention to philosophical presuppositions reveals the internal contradictions of ostensibly radical theological positions. The book challenges both traditional theologians who dismiss postmodern thought and postmodern theologians who claim to have transcended classical theological problems. By revealing the predicament at the heart of postmodern theology, Hyman opens space for reconsidering the relationship between philosophy and theology beyond the impasses of both modernist foundationalism and postmodernist anti-foundationalism.