Life and Thought of Bernard Eugene Meland, American Constructive Theologian, 1899–1993
Author: W. Creighton Peden
Date Of Publication: Oct 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2406-4
Isbn: 1-4438-2406-2
This book deals with Bernard Eugene Meland’s “life” (as presented in his unpublished intellectual autobiography) and “thought” as a constructive theologian who taught in the Divinity School of The University of Chicago (1945-64). When Meland was in the process of completing his doctoral studies at the University of Chicago, he came into close association with Henry Nelson Wieman who was joining the faculty. Meland took the first course Wieman offered in which they read William Ernest Hocking’s The Meaning of God in Human Experience (Part IV) and Whitehead’s Religion in the Making. He audited Wieman’s other courses. The philosophy of A. N. Whitehead played a large role in their relationship and theology. With the sudden death of G. B. Smith, Wieman became Meland’s doctoral advisor. After completing the doctoral program, Meland spent the next year at Marburg University in Germany studying with Rudolf Otto. He came away from this experience having discovered that the stimulus and lure in the language of the arts had become for him an alternative to the moral way of expressing value, sensibility, and fulfillment of human experience. He returned from Europe to begin teaching at Central College in Missouri and in 1936 joined the faculty at Pomona College in Claremont, California. His association with Wieman continued in the 1930s as they co-authored American Philosophies of Religion (1936). While teaching at Central College, Meland authored Modern Man’s Worship (1934), and at Pomona College published Write Your Own Ten Commandments (1938), and The Church and Adult Education (1939).

In 1945, Meland joined Wieman at the Divinity School as Professor of Constructive Theology. Although Wieman soon retired, their connection continued throughout Wieman’s life. The Second World War had concluded and Meland was in a state of anguish and despair over the war and especially by the atomic bomb. In this troubled state of mind he published Seeds of Redemption (1947), America’s Spiritual Culture (1948), and The Reawakening of Christian Faith (1949). His next two publications were Higher Education and the Human Spirit (1953) and Faith and Culture (1955), with the latter considered by many as his most important work. While teaching at Chicago, Meland twice served twice as The Barrows Lectures in India. His lectures in 1957-58 were published as The Realities of Faith (1962). In 1963-64, he continued his theme of the relationship between faith and culture by focusing on the impact of secularization on modern cultures. These lectures were published as The Secularization of Modern Cultures (1966). His last book was Fallible Forms and Symbols (1977).

In the first section of this book, Meland’s “thought” is considered under four headings: Metaphysical View, Method, Doctrine of God, and View of Religion, followed by an evauation. Section two is devoted to his “Later Writings,” followed by a conclusion.

W. Creighton Peden is the Fuller E. Callaway Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Augusta State University (USA) and President Emeritus of the Highlands Institiute of American Religious and Philosophical Thought. He received his PhD from St. Andrews University, is the author of eleven books, editor of thirty, and has lectured at over 40 universities in fourteen countries. Peden also co-authored with Charles Hartshorne Whitehead’s View of Reality.

“Peden, a leading authority on the history of the empirical tradition in American liberal religion, provides a new in-depth review of Meland’s thought, situating his core theological ideas in the shifting contexts of his major influences, especially G. B. Smith, H. N. Wieman, A. N. Whitehead, and W. James. After Meland’s own ‘Fifty Years of Religious Inquiry,’ readers will find: (1) an elucidation of Meland’s metaphysical construals of reality, creativity, humanity, the structure of experience, faith, and spirituality; (2) an insightful rendering of his development of the method of ‘empirical realism;’ (3) a revealing reflection on his doctrine of God; (4) a succinct exposition of his views on the nature and purpose of religion; and (5) the most invaluable gem of the entire book, an enlightening critical summary of Meland’s later writings (from the 1960s through 1989) that includes many unpublished essays and lectures. Along the way, Peden guides us on an archaeological dig into some of Meland’s most complex theological constructions, and presents probing evaluations of the adequacy and effectiveness of those constructions, particularly Meland’s vexing treatment of the relationship between faith and reason, and his pluralistic view of God.”

—Jennifer G. Jesse, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Truman State University

“Bernard Meland (1899–1993) represented the best in the pragmatic tradition of constructive theology associated with the University of Chicago. In this book Creighton Peden has presented a masterful overview of his work. For those interested in Meland’s thought as well as the various figures who framed it this book is indispensable reading.”

—David M. Rasmussen, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College; Editor-in-Chief of Philosophy and Social Criticism

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