James Olthuis

James H. Olthuis is an inter-disciplinary scholar in ethics, hermeneutics, philosophical theology, as well as a theorist and practitioner of psychotherapy of a kind he calls "Relational psychotherapy."

Life

Olthuis studied under H. Evan Runner in philosophy at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan; then in theology at Calvin Theological Seminary; and finally in philosophical ethics at VU University, Amsterdam, where he received his PhD under André Troost. Olthuis analyzed and critiqued the works of G. E. Moore, his dissertation being entitled Facts, Values, and Ethics: A confrontation with 20th Century British Moral Philosophy.

Positions held

Olthuis was a senior member at the Institute for Christian Studies, in Toronto from(1968–2004) and continues to hold an emeritus position there.

Bibliography

• (1968) Facts, Values and Ethics
• (1975) I Pledge You My Troth
• (1986) Keeping our Troth: Staying in Love During the Five Stages of Marriage
• (1987) A Hermeneutics of Ultimacy
• (1997) Knowing Other-wise: Philosophy on the Threshold of Spirituality, ed.
• (2000) Towards an Ethics of Community, ed.
• (2002) Religion With/out Religion: The Prayers and Tears of John D. Caputo, ed.
• (2003) The Beautiful Risk: A New Psychology of Loving and Being Loved
• (2005) Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, and Participation, ed. with James K.A. Smith

Works about Olthuis

• (2021) The Hermeneutics of Charity: Interpretation, Selfhood, and Postmodern Faith

See also

• deconstruction
• deconstruction-and-religion
• postmodern Christianity
• radical orthodoxy
• weak theology