r e s e a r c h | current projects & updates

My research training is primarily in the area of contemporary French phenomenology and philosophical theology, particularly the work of figures such as Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion, Emmanuel Levinas, Dominque Janicaud, and Michel Henry. My theological work continues to have me engaging figures such as Augustine, Aquinas, and more recent figures such as Barth, Hauerwas, and "Radical Orthodoxy." (For the fruits of recent research, see "Publications.")

The next phase of my research will pull together these philosophical and theological trajectories as I begin work in the area of Christian public philosophy and political theology with a special interest in (1) issues regarding international relations in a post-9/11 world.

Specific projects include the following:

• Beginning summer 2005 and through 2005/2006, I will be at work on a book project currently titled Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Learning, and the Formation of Radical Disciples. This will be the first volume in a systematic trilogy developing what I'm calling a "philosophical theology of culture." This project is funded by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and the Lilly Vocation Project. Aimed at students, but also of interest to scholars and other readers, this first volume will make the philosophical case for the role of worship and liturgical practices in the formation of a "worldview" (and will also critique the mis-appropriation of worldview language by the "Biola school"), and will argue that the notion of liturgy is a productive lens for cultural critique. It will include an analysis of the formative practices of "secular" liturgies and argue for a recovery of the centrality of Christian worship as conter-formation, and a crucial, necessary aspect of eduction and formation. This book will also be my foray into the Stout/Milbank/Hauerwas debate, and an opportunity for me to articulate a revised Reformational notion of "antithesis" in Christian public philosophy. I hope a draft of the book will be complete by May 2007.
• I have been ramping up a research program focused on the sciences--both social sciences and natural sciences. Most recently and concretely, this involves my co-directing, with Amos Yong, a new research initiative funded by the John Templeton Foundation: "Science and the Spirit: Pentecostal Perspectives on the Science/Religion Dialogue." I am particularly interested in questions regarding naturalism and ontology, as well as hermeneutics and science.
• My interest in new urbanism and urban renewal has turned into a research trajectory on "urban altruism" and questions regarding the role of place in conceptions of community. I worked out some of this in a recent seminar on urban altruism and am now working with Mark Mulder (Urban Studies) on a long-term research agenda as Project Fellows of the Center for Social Research. This is part of a new research and teaching interest in philosophy of the social science.
• I'm continuing work on a long-gestating monograph on Derrida and religion, in the context of contemporary discussions of religion in the public sphere. This was the focus of my sabbatical project for 2004/2005. The working title is Holy Wars and Democratic Crusades: Deconstructing Myths of Religious Violence and Secular Peace. Building on the work on democratic peace theory, this project engages the postmodern critique of religion (especially as articulated by Derrida) as inherently violent. This will represent the culmination of my critique of Derrida that has been sketched in previous articles. A conference at Brock University in March 2006, devoted to some of my work on Derrida, will be an occasion (I hope!) to finally pull together a workable draft of this book.
• I will be completing a book entitled Thinking in Tongues: Elements of a Pentecostal Worldview, to be published in a new series from Eerdmans, "Pentecostal Manifestos." The series is co-edited by myself and Amos Yong (Regent University). The book will lay out the key elements of a distinctly pentecostal/charismatic worldview and then unpack the distinctives of a pentecostal philosophy.
• Beginning in fall 2006, I hope to undertake a project in political theology on the topic of freedom: a word bandied about in much American political discourse, particularly with respect to foreign policy and the "export" of American democracy--and regularly freighted with theological assumption and even overt claims. I hope to write a small, accessible book that will interrogate the "theology of freedom" that informs the current administration. My hope is to have the (little!) book done in time to appear for the fall 2008 presidential elections, but that might be wishful thinking.
• I am steadily making notes and creating files for a book I'd like to write titled On Religion: An Open Letter to Christopher Hitchens and Other Cultured Despisers.

[last updated 04.02.2007]