Edit Person: Gabriel Vahanian

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'''Gabriel Vahanian''' (24 January 1927 - 30 August 2012<ref name='nyt2012'>{{cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/education/gabriel-vahanian-85-death-of-god-theologian-dies.html/|title=Gabriel Vahanian, Professor, Dies at 85; Was Linked to ‘Death of God’ Movement|last=Vitello|first=Paul|date=2012-09-08 |publisher=New York Times|accessdate=2012-09-09}}</ref>) was a [[France|French]] [[Protestant]] [[Christian]] [[theologian]] who was most remembered for his pioneering work in the theology of the "[[death of God]]" movement within academic circles in the 1960s, and who taught for 26 years in the U.S. before finishing a prestigious career in [[Strasbourg|Strasbourg, France]]. ==Education and Career== Vahanian was born Gabriel Antoine Vahanian in [[Marseille]], France, to Mesrop and Perouse Vahanian, refugees of the [[Armenian Genocide]].<ref name='nyt2012' /> He received his French baccalaureate (baccalauréat) in 1945 from the [[Lycee]] of [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]] in [[France]] and then graduated from the [[Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris]], his Master's Degree in Theology in 1950 from [[Princeton Theological Seminary]], and his Ph.D. in 1958, also from PTS.<ref name='nyt2012' /> His dissertation was entitled "Protestantism and the Arts." He then served on the faculty of [[Syracuse University]] for 26 years. At Syracuse he held the [http://religion.syr.edu/chairs.html Eliphalet Remington chair in Religion from 1967 to 1973], and then the [http://religion.syr.edu/chairs.html Jeanette Kittredge Watson chair in Religion from 1973-1984], and founded in 1968 and was the first director of the graduate studies program in religion.<ref name='syr2012'>{{cite web|url=http://religion.syr.edu/About/In%20memoriam%20Vahanian.html|title=In Memoriam Gabriel Vahanian (January 24, 1927-August 23, 2012)|last=Wiggins|first=James B.|date= |publisher=Syracuse University|accessdate=2012-09-09}}</ref> He moved in in 1984 to the [[University_of_Strasbourg#History|Université des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg]], for a post considered France’s most prominent theological professorship of Protestantism.<ref name='nyt2012' /> He ended his career as Professor Emeritus of Cultural Theology at the [[Université Marc Bloch]] and its successor, the combined [[University of Strasbourg]].<ref name='syr2012' /> ==Work== Vahanian was educated in the [[Reformed]] theological stream of [[John Calvin]] and of [[Karl Barth]], and he translated Barth's ''The Faith of the Church''. He was very distinguished in his interests in the relationship between literature and theology, and between culture and religion. One French Protestant contemporary of his was the [[lay theologian]] and [[social critic]] [[Jacques Ellul]]. Vahanian was a founding member of the first board of directors of the [[American Academy of Religion]] in 1964.<ref name='syr2012' /> His first book, entitled ''The Death of God: The Culture of our Post-Christian Era'' (1961), was hailed by [[Rudolf Bultmann]] as a landmark of theological criticism. During the 1960s the theological writings of Vahanian, [[Harvey Cox]], [[Paul Van Buren]], William Hamilton, [[Thomas J. J. Altizer]], and [[Richard Rubenstein]] came to be regarded by many observers as a new Christian and Jewish movement advocating the death of God. However, as the conservative [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] [[John Warwick Montgomery]] noted, Vahanian's position was deemed to be "hopelessly conservative by the advocates of Christian atheism." (''Suicide of Christian Theology'', p.&nbsp;80). Vahanian expressed his understanding of the "death of God" as happening when God is turned into a cultural artifact. Vahanian was alarmed at the objectification of God: <blockquote>The Christian era has bequeathed us the 'death of God,' but not without teaching us a lesson. God is not necessary; that is to say, he cannot be taken for granted. He cannot be used merely as a hypothesis, whether [[epistemological]], scientific, or existential, unless we should draw the degrading conclusion that 'God is reasons.' On the other hand, if we can no longer assume that God is, we may once again realize that he must be. God is not necessary, but he is inevitable. He is wholly other and wholly present. Faith in him, the conversion of our human reality, both culturally and existentially, is the demand he still makes upon us. (''Wait Without Idols'', p. 46)</blockquote> He contributed articles on wide ranging topics to journals and magazines such as ''The Nation'', ''The Christian Century'' and ''Réforme or Foi et Vie'' and the ''Biblioteca dell'Archivio di filosofia''. He was the recipient of the ACLS and served as a consulting member of the Presidential Commission on biomedical ethics. He lectured throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In 2005, he was invited to be the keynote speaker at the annual convention of the Association of Christian Studies, where he lectured on “A Secular Christ: Against the Religious Parochialism of East and West” (forthcoming). His more recent publications include ''Anonymous God'' (2003), ''Tillich and the New Religious Paradigm'' (2004), and ''Praise of the Secular'' (2008). His personal papers from the period 1945–1971 are held in the archives of Syracuse University. == Bibliography == * ''The Death of God: The Culture of Our Post-Christian Era'', (New York: George Braziller, 1961). * ''Wait Without Idols'', (New York: George Braziller, 1964). * ''No Other God'', (New York: George Braziller, 1966). * ''God and Utopia: The Church in a Technological Civilization'', (New York: Seabury Press, 1977). ISBN 0-8164-0355-4 * ''L'utopie chretienne'', (Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1992). ISBN 2-220-03244-2 * ''La foi, une fois pour toutes: meditations kierkegaardiennes'', (Geneve: Labor et Fides, 1996). ISBN 2-8309-0836-8 * ''Anonymous God: An Essay on Not Dreading Words'', (Aurora: Davies Group, 2002). ISBN 1-888570-57-1 * ''Tillich and the New Religious Paradigm'', (Aurora: Davies Group, 2004). ISBN 1-888570-62-8 * ''Praise of the Secular'', (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2008). ISBN 978-0813927039 == Critical assessments == * John Warwick Montgomery, ''The 'Is God Dead?' Controversy'', (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1966). * John Warwick Montgomery, ''The Suicide of Christian Theology'', (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1970). ISBN 0-87123-521-8 * Mack B. Stokes, "The Nontheistic Temper of the Modern Mind," ''Religion in Life'', Vol. 24 (Spring 1965), pp.&nbsp;245–257. ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == * [http://www.jcrt.org/archives/01.1/vahanian.html Gabriel Vahanian, "The Otherness of Time: Secularisation as Worlding of the Word and the Hallowing of Time,"] ''Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory,'' 1, 1 (December 1999). * [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,941410,00.html "The 'God is Dead' Movement,"] ''Time Magazine'', October 22, 1965. * [http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=537&C=587 Thomas J. J. Altizer and William Hamilton, ''Radical Theology and the Death of God''], (Indianapolis: Bobbs–Merrill, 1966). * [http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1966/v23-2-criticscorner2.htm E. David Willis, "Iconoclasm in Paperback,"] ''Theology Today'', 23, 2 (July 1966), p.&nbsp;275 *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Vahanian - source of this creative commons article *[http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-gabriel-vahanian-20120916,0,4043760.story LA Times obit]

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