Thomas J. J. Altizer | Author

About the Author

Thomas Jonathan Jackson Altizer was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 28, 1927. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army, where he worked on radios for bombers. He received a bachelor's degree in 1948, a master's degree in theology in 1951, and a Ph.D. in history of religions in 1955 from show more the University of Chicago. He wanted to become an Episcopal priest but failed a psychiatric evaluation. He taught at Wabash College, Emory University, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. As a theologian, he believed in the God is dead movement. He wrote around 20 books including Radical Theology and the Death of God written with William Hamilton, The Gospel of Christian Atheism, and Living the Death of God. He died from complications of a stroke on November 28, 2018 at the age of 91. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Thomas Altizer-, Thomas J. Altizer, Altizer Thomas J J., Altizerm Thomas J.J., Thomas J.J., Altizer ed.

Image credit: Cathedral Bells

Works by Thomas J. J. Altizer

Popular Recent

Radical Theology and the Death of God (1966) 204 copies, 6 reviews

The Gospel of Christian Atheism (1966) 101 copies, 1 review

Toward a new Christianity; readings in the death of God theology (1967) 22 copies

The New Gospel of Christian Atheism (2002) 20 copies

The Contemporary Jesus (1997) 19 copies

Genesis and Apocalypse: ATheology Voyage Toward Authentic Christianity (1991) 18 copies

The Genesis of God: A Theological Genealogy (1993) 18 copies

Truth, Myth, and Symbol (1962) 16 copies

Living the Death of God: A Theological Memoir (2006) 16 copies

History as Apocalypse (Dissertation (Paperback)) (1985) 15 copies

Mircea Eliade and the dialectic of the sacred (1975) 14 copies

The descent into hell;: A study of the radical reversal of the Christian consciousness (1979) 14 copies

The self-embodiment of God (1977) 13 copies

The New Apocalypse: The Radical Christian Vision of William Blake (Series in Philosophical and Cultural Studies in… (2000) 11 copies

Total presence: The language of Jesus and the language of today (1980) 10 copies

The Altizer-Montgomery dialogue;: A chapter in the God is dead controversy (1967) 9 copies

Godhead and the Nothing (2003) 7 copies

Oriental mysticism and Biblical eschatology (1961) 7 copies

The Call to Radical Theology (SUNY series in Theology and Continental Thought) (2012) 6 copies

Theology at the End of the Century: A Dialogue on the Postmodern With Thomas J.J. Altizer, Mark C. Taylor, Charles E.… (1990) 6 copies

Satan and Apocalypse: And Other Essays in Political Theology (SUNY series in Theology and Continental Thought) (2017) 5 copies

The Death of God (1968) 4 copies

The genesis of God : a theological genealogy 2 copies

Radical Theology and the Death of God 2 copies

Truth, Myth and Symbol. Edited by T. J. J. Altizer, William A. Beardslee, J. Harvey Young. [By various authors.] 1 copy

Nirvana and the Kingdom of God 1 copy

Gospel of Christian Atheism 1 copy

Mircea eliade y la dialéctica de lo sagrado 1 copy

Mircea Eliade and the Dialectic of the Sacred 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology (2001) — Contributor — 76 copies

Encounters with Alphonso Lingis (2003) — Contributor — 7 copies

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Winter 1989, Vol. LVII, No. 4 (1989) — Contributor — 2 copies

Theological Reflection and the Pursuit of Ideals: Theology, Human Flourishing and Freedom (2013) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (3) 20th century theology (3) Altizer (2) atheism (5) Blake (3) Christian Theological Thought (2) Christian theology (7) Christianity (15) Death of God (11) Death of God theology (9) Doctrinal Theology (3) Eschatology (2) God (4) history (2) home (2) intellectual history (2) Jane Youngblood Collection (2) Jesus Christ--Divinity (3) liberalism (2) Modern Philosophy (2) myth (3) nihilism (3) non-fiction (3) office (2) owned (2) philosophical theology (2) philosophy (19) philosophy of religion (3) political theology (2) radical theology (5) religion (22) religious (4) Sixties Theology (2) symbols (3) Systematic Theology (5) Theology (62) Theology- radical (2) to-read (12) truth (2) unread (4)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: Altizer, Thomas Jonathan Jackson
Birthdate: 1927-05-28
Date of death: 2018-10-28
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Charleston, West Virginia, USA
Place of death: Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Places of residence: Port Jefferson, New York, USA
Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, USA
Charleston, West Virginia, USA
Education: University of Chicago (BA, MA - Theology, PhD - History of Religions)
St. John's College, Annapolis
Stonewall Jackson High School
Occupations: theologian
Organizations: Wabash College
Emory University
State University of New York, Stony Brook

Members

Reviews

The Gospel of Christian Atheism by Thomas J. J. Altizer

It is not a gospel --it is not Christian-- and it is not atheism. In an attempt to celebrate the "death of God" this book succeeds only in demonstrating the death of the "death of God" theology-- Robert Mcafee Brown.

A lucid, Joyous, wise, evangelical-- even pastoral --piece of theological work -William Hamilton

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PendleHillLibrary | Jul 3, 2023 |

Radical Theology and the Death of God by William Hamilton

The concept of the book was rather interesting to me. The notion of 'Christian Atheism' is not new (or a necessary contradiction) to me and I appreciate any and all rational use of Nietzsche's 'death of God.' What didn't interest me is the method. Whereas dialectics have been used in the past to better understand (Christian) theology; here's it's more as if Christianity is used as a tool to understand dialectic theology. The problem is to do so they must effectively whittle down the corpus of Christianity into the smallest units of division (a task many Protestant theologians have been at for decades--how to make the Bible an equation.)

… (more)

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palaverofbirds | 5 other reviews | Mar 29, 2013 |

Radical Theology and the Death of God by William Hamilton

The concept of the book was rather interesting to me. The notion of 'Christian Atheism' is not new (or a necessary contradiction) to me and I appreciate any and all rational use of Nietzsche's 'death of God.' What didn't interest me is the method. Whereas dialectics have been used in the past to better understand (Christian) theology; here's it's more as if Christianity is used as a tool to understand dialectic theology. The problem is to do so they must effectively whittle down the corpus of Christianity into the smallest units of division (a task many Protestant theologians have been at for decades--how to make the Bible an equation.)

… (more)

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palaverofbirds | 5 other reviews | Mar 29, 2013 |

Radical Theology and the Death of God by William Hamilton

The concept of the book was rather interesting to me. The notion of 'Christian Atheism' is not new (or a necessary contradiction) to me and I appreciate any and all rational use of Nietzsche's 'death of God.' What didn't interest me is the method. Whereas dialectics have been used in the past to better understand (Christian) theology; here's it's more as if Christianity is used as a tool to understand dialectic theology. The problem is to do so they must effectively whittle down the corpus of Christianity into the smallest units of division (a task many Protestant theologians have been at for decades--how to make the Bible an equation.)

… (more)

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palaverofbirds | 5 other reviews | Mar 29, 2013 |

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