The 200-year-old notion that concepts, ideas, and theories are all influenced by or occasioned by historical circumstances is today a commonplace in all fields, and lays bare the historical character of our most cherished convictions, honored traditions, and dogmatic formulations.

With clarity and skill, Davaney's authoritative text traces the history of historicism and its various meanings from the German Enlightenment through its Continental and distinctly American developments to its contemporary postmodern incarnations. She demonstrates how it has forced theology to pioneer methods that specifically acknowledge social locatedness, particularity, and pragmatic intent, effectively replacing theology's metaphysical and dogmatic basis with a largely historical one. Yet, says Davaney, Christian theology has yet to come to terms fully with historicism and its imperatives, and her final chapter charts a possible future course.