The This Silence Must Now Speak ─ Letters of Thomas J. J. Altizer 1995-2015

Thomas J. J. Altizer is the leading radical theologian whose creative lifework—a steady output of some seventeen books and tens of articles—spans from the late 1950s to the present. In the last few decades, Altizer has embraced the communicative possibilities of the internet to write circular letters on religious, theological, political, and philosophical matters. The recipients are an international virtual community of scholars and friends who work in a number of disciplines, ranging from cultural studies scholar Mark C. Taylor, to British literary theorist David Jasper, to well-known contemporary philosophers such as Richard Kearney, John D. Caputo, and Edward S. Casey. Like the seventeenth century philosopher Marin Mersenne, who was renowned in the age of Descartes for gathering around him a network of brilliant philosophers and scientists through exchanges of written correspondence, so Altizer in his own domain of philosophical theology has acted as a hub for networking talented thinkers and scholars. In these brilliant letters, which take the form of meditative mini-essays, Altizer writes in a more accessible, personal, and occasionally confessional manner. These letters, an intellectual tour de force, provide another entry into engagement with Altizer's thought.