Radical orthodoxy is a Christian theological and philosophical school of thought which makes use of postmodern philosophy to reject the paradigm of modernity.
[2] The name was also chosen[citation needed] in opposition to certain strands of so-called radical theology, for example those of John Shelby Spong; those strands asserted a highly liberal version of Christian faith where certain doctrines, for example the Trinity and the incarnation of God in Christ,[citation needed] were denied in an attempt to respond to modernity:[3] in contrast to this, radical orthodoxy attempted to show how the orthodox interpretation of Christian faith (as given primarily in the ecumenical creeds) was the more radical response to contemporary issues and more rigorous and intellectually sustainable.
Henri de Lubac's theological work on the distinction of nature and grace has been influential in the movement's[5] articulation of ontology.
[citation needed] The strong critique of liberalism found in much of radical orthodoxy[6] has its origin in the work of Karl Barth.
Syrian Iamblichus of Chalcis (c. 245–325) and the Byzantine Proclus (412–485) are occasionally sourced, while the theology of Augustine of Hippo, Gregory of Nyssa, Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, and Meister Eckhart is often drawn upon.