Analyzing the muddles of analysis : (some of) what analytic theologians can learn from the history of analytic feminism

Abstract

Analytic theologians have ironically experienced difficulties in precisely defining the meaning of ‘analytic’ with respect to their style of theology. In this article, I turn to the history of a similar research project, analytic feminism, to see how it went about defining ‘analytic’ in relation to the typically non‐analytic subject area of feminist studies. I then consider two commonly referred to attempts to define analytic theology, one methodological and the other socio‐historical, and discuss shortcomings of each. I close with a new definition of analytic theology that aims to incorporate all the insights in the discussions which precede it.