Radical Orthodoxy as a Response to the Challenges of Modernism and Postmodernism

Abstract

This article examines "Radical Orthodoxy" as a major development in contemporary theological thought, which emerged in English- language academic discourse in the late 1990s. The study analyses the movement’s core principles and intellectual programme, explores the reasons for its appeal, and situates it within the broader post- secular turn. Drawing on primary sources — including the work of John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, and Graham Ward — alongside recent scholarship, the article employs methods from intellectual history and comparative analysis. It identifies six key concepts in Radical Orthodoxy (participation; rejection of secular dualism; being as gift; knowledge as anticipation; the social dimension of salvation; the analogy of being), together with its socio- political commitments (critique of secularisation, Christian socialism, social responsibility, and the interrelation of theology and politics). The author presents the movement as combining a polemic against both modernism and postmodernism with an effort to set out a comprehensive theological worldview rooted in tradition. The article’s innovation lies in highlighting parallels between Radical Orthodoxy and earlier forms of Christian modernism as contrasting responses to the intellectual challenges of their respective eras. The author argues that the movement’s popularity reflects a wider cultural search for integrated worldviews that unite faith, reason, and social practice.