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Cover of God in the Labyrinth

God in the Labyrinth

A Semiotic Approach to Christian Theology

  • Theology
  • Publisher: Wipf and Stock
  • Published: 2019

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Publisher's Description

In God in the Labyrinth, Andrew Hollingsworth uses Umberto Eco's semiotic concept of the model encyclopedia as the basis for a new model and approach to systematic theology. Following an in-depth analysis of the model encyclopedia in Eco's semiotics, he demonstrates the implications this model has for epistemology, hermeneutics, and doctrinal development. This work aims to bridge the unfortunate gap in research that exists between the fields of systematic theology and semiotics by demonstrating semiotic insights for theological method.


Endorsements (4)

“I am impressed by Dr. Hollingworth’s genuinely multidisciplinary study. He not only examines Umberto Eco’s semiotics with its careful work on codes, interconnected codes, and the limits of interpretation, but also its implications for theology, hermeneutics, and epistemology. He discusses the development of doctrine in the light of creeds, a dispositional account of belief, and Eco’s distinction between the models of the dictionary and encyclopedia. I warmly commend this book as well-informed and creative.”

Anthony C. Thiselton

“It is exciting to see fresh work in the field of systematic theology that stimulates deeper reflection on method and approach. Dr. Hollingsworth’s dialectic between theology and the semiotics of Umberto Eco provides a fruitful and insightful way forward. Take and read!”

Heath A. Thomas

“Umberto Eco was a creative and pivotal thinker whose wide-ranging work has for too long been underappreciated by Evangelicals. I don’t know any scholar, old or young, mainline or Evangelical, that has studied the semiotics of Eco with a mind to theological method as closely as Andrew Hollingsworth has. In God in the Labyrinth Hollingsworth lays out for us a fresh and provocative thesis that deserves to be taken very seriously. I heartily recommend this book to you.”

Robert B. Stewart

“Hollingsworth’s God in the Labyrinth is a brilliant, refreshingly original work in theological method that engages with an overlooked or ignored field in philosophy that could have tremendous potential for biblical interpretation and Christian theology. Readers looking for a helpful overview of semiotics and its Christian application will be greatly pleased with this interdisciplinary effort.”

Rhyne Putman

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