Five Most Influential Thinkers

Since someone decided to bust my chops about not including the Bible on my most influential books list, I thought that I better make a quick caveat. Obviously, as a practicing Christian, the Bible is and has been the most influential text in my life and Jesus (and Paul) have been the most influential thinkers in my life. I figured since I am openly Christian on the blog, that would be self-evident.

Now, moving on to most influential thinkers, I have included people here that I have read but have not met. These are thinkers who fascinate and challenge me. One of the things about being an academic is that you read a lot of stuff and it all is not good. A lot of stuff is neat and interesting, but it does not challenge you. The thinkers below really challenge me when I read and think along with them. There is something about them that opens me up and exposes me. That's why they've been so influential.

1. John Wesley
If you know me or have read the blog, you know that I am a Wesleyan. Unlike many (most?) Wesleyans though, I have read much of what Wesley has written. Everytime I read him, I feel compelled to be a better Christian by seeking to be a person of love - both of God and neighbor. And, Wesley is not a theologian's theologian, trying to tie up loose ends or have everything sorted out; rather, he is interested in seeing people transformed and from him I have really seen how theology is a science of transformation.

2. St. Augustine of Hippo
Part of my dissertation is on Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana, like I said in the last post. However, the crown jewel of Augustine's work is De Trinitate, where he leads the reader through the doctrine of the Trinity by exposing the reader's very self to God. It is a very mystagogical thinking upon the Trinity that deeply influenced how I think about the Triune God and how I pray to this God. The goal becomes not about having the right doctrines as much as being open to communing with this God, although Augustine is after right thinking about God.

3. Thomas Merton
Merton is a brillaint thinker whose concern is communion with God. However, for Merton communion with God means that one has communion with all things; the necessity becomes about understanding that all of the world is God's world and that God resides in this world and in these people. So, Merton's work has a definite ethical quality to them, showing that love of God must be seen in one's love of neighbor, and to love one's neighbor means you cannot do something to kill them. His text Bread in the Wilderness discusses how the liturgy is a preparation for the person to go into the world and exude the love of God upon the world. It's truly beautiful.

4. David Tracy
If you have not read Tracy, I encourage it. Especially, I encourage reading some of his later stuff on the mystical-prophetic naming of God (if you need info on where to find the articles, let me know). Tracy figures pretty prominently into a lot of my research and its because he challenges me to think about the way that I think about theology's interaction with the nontheological. He calls for the ability of the theologian to really encounter those things that are not theological and to deal with them in a way that is fair and open, but also theologically relevant. He really opens the world up as a theological place that is very fruitful for the theologian's thought. Also, his earlier texts are just classics that must be dealt with, even if you don't agree with all he says.

5. Jacques Derrida
Derrida is a thinker who challenges me to be a better person because only the person that strives for the impossible lives a life worth living, as he shows in his meditations on justice, forgiveness, the gift and hospitality. He also challenges me to be a better, more thorough reader of texts. Many think that he just goes and does whatever he wants with a text, but this is not the case. He is an incredibly careful, observant reader of texts. It is due to this carefulness that one finds the other speaking in the text, coming through the text, where what is supposed to be absent overtakes what is apparently present. He calls for a thorough rethinking of thinking.