The Other Calling: Theology, Intellectual Vocation and Truth (Illuminations - Theory & Religion) Book

What is the true calling of the intellectual? In this provocative new book, Andrew Shanks presents a distinctive fresh answer. The Other Calling is a systematic riposte both to the elitism of philosophy in the heritage of Plato, and to the typical individualism of Plato's philosophic opponents. Here, instead, intellectual integrity is identified with a form of priesthood. Recalling how, once, all intellectuals were, as a matter of course, also priests, Shanks argues for a new, religiously multicultural 'priesthood of all thinkers'. The argument -- developed first in philosophical terms, then in relation to Christian theology -- is about the most basic moral purposes of both disciplines. It negotiates a strategic partnership between the two, as complementary contributions to this 'priestly' ethos. The Other Calling is a strikingly original approach to the moral and political aspects of theology's relationship with philosophy, and displays all the erudition that we have come to expect from Andrew Shanks.Read More