Kathryn Eileen Tanner (born 1957) is an American theologian who serves as Frederick Marquand Professor of

Systematic Theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

Biography

Born on March 29, 1957, Tanner earned her BA, MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Her career began at Yale by teaching for the department of religious studies. She later moved to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

where she served as the Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of Theology. Afterwards, she returned to teach at her alma mater. Tanner does constructive Christian theology in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions. Her work addresses contemporary challenges to the Christian faith through the creative use of both the history of Christian thought and interdisciplinary methods, such as critical, social, and feminist theory. Her first book, ''God and Creation in Christian Theology'' developed an account of the non-competitive relations between God and creatures. Her next book ''The Politics of God'' applies non-competitive relations to the political sphere. Her book ''Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology'' explores the relevance of cultural studies for rethinking theological method. She has also written a short systematic text on the Incarnation (''Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity'') and a text on the economic relevance of Christian beliefs about God (''Economy of Grace''). ''Christ the Key'', argues for the centrality of Christ in all theological questions. Her latest book ''Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism'' pulls together some of her previous discussions on economy and theology and discusses the moral, social, and theological concerns with present-day "finance-dominated capitalism" and how Christian theology offers better alternatives. She is a past president of the

American Theological Society The American Theological Society, founded in 1912, is the oldest professional theological society in North America. It has met at least once each year in various locations on the East Coast of the United States, lately at Princeton Theological Semin ...

and is active in the Episcopal Church. She is a member of the Theology Committee that advises the Episcopal

House of Bishops The House of Bishops is the third House in a General Synod of some Anglican churches and the second house in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

. She is on the editorial boards of ''

Modern Theology ''Modern Theology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley. It publishes articles, review articles, and book reviews in the area of theology, with an ecumenical editorial policy. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted ...

'', ''International Journal of Systematic Theology'', and ''

Scottish Journal of Theology The ''Scottish Journal of Theology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of systematic, historical and biblical theology. It was established in 1948 by Thomas F. Torrance and J. K. S. Reid. Former editors-in-chief include Iain Torrance ...

''. Tanner delivered the

Warfield Lectures The Warfield Lectures are named in honor of Annie Kinkead Warfield, wife of Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield professor of theology at the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1887 to 1921. Where lectures have been published the book titles are below. ...

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...

in 2007 and the

Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford. Their purpose is to "promote and diffuse the study of natural theology in the widest sense of the term – in o ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 2016, which became her 2019 book ''Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism''.

''Christ the Key''

Kathryn Tanner has done much work to contribute to the scholastic work of systematic theology. One of the most well-known works was her book called ''Christ the Key,'' published in 2010. This work is mainly Christocentric, describing Christ as center for connecting humanity with God. This book discusses the following topics in the seven chapters of the book, Human Nature, Grace (divided into 2 parts), trinitarian life, politics, death and sacrifice, and the working of the spirit. This book is best used to understand aspects of contemporary theology connected to the soul of humanity in relation with the divine humans choose to interact with. Kathryn states in the preface of this book that it is a sequel to her book ''Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity,'' continuing to explain the importance of the centrality of God seeking out humanity to be in intimate relationship with us through the life, death and resurrection of the Son, Jesus Christ. This is a good book to follow the 2001 work to continue understanding her Christological view on God's interactions with humanity through Christ.

''The Gift of Theology''

''The Gift of Theology: The Contribution of Kathryn Tanner'' was put together by editors Rosemary P. Carbine and Hilda P. Koster, who were both so deeply moved and affected by Kathryn's work they decided to put together this book to best give their thanks to Kathryn Tanner for her contributions to contemporary theology. In this work, we get a much better understanding and appreciation of who Kathryn Tanner is in relation to her work as a scholar by her colleagues who admire her work most in similar fields of study. John E. Thiel, a professor of religious studies at Fairfield University, writes the foreword, describing Kathryn Tanner as "the most accomplished theologian of her generation." This book goes on to explain in detail Kathryn Tanner's contributions and explaining the theology behind her best known works. It is a critical analysis of all her works, how she processes theology and presents them and how they have affected the theological world.

Publications

* ''Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism'' (Yale, 2019) * ''Christ the Key'' (Cambridge, 2010) * ''Economy of Grace'' (Fortress, 2005) * ''Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity'' (Fortress, 2001) * ''Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology'' (Fortress, 1997) * ''Politics of God: Christian Theologies and Social Justice'' (Fortress, 1992) * ''God and Creation in Christian Theology: Tyranny or Empowerment?'' (Blackwell, 1988)

References

External links