# James Olthuis

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{{Short description|American theologian}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=September 2011}}
{{Notability|academic|date=June 2017}}
}}

{{Infobox academic
| name               = James Olthuis
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| birth_name         = James Herman Olthuis
| birth_date         = {{birth year and age|1938}}
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| death_date         = <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
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| awards             = <!--notable national level awards only-->
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| alma_mater         = {{unbulleted list | [Calvin College](/source/Calvin_College) | [Calvin Theological Seminary](/source/Calvin_Theological_Seminary) | [VU University Amsterdam](/source/VU_University_Amsterdam)}}
| thesis_title       = Facts, Values, and Ethics
| thesis_url         = 
| thesis_year        = 1968
| school_tradition   = [Postmodernism](/source/Postmodernism)<ref name="Olson 2013, p. 688">{{cite book |last=Olson |first=Roger E. |author-link=Roger E. Olson |year=2013 |title=The Journey of Modern Theology: From Reconstruction to Deconstruction |location=Downers Grove, Illinois |publisher=InterVarsity Press |page=688 |isbn=978-0-8308-6484-3}}</ref>
| doctoral_advisor   = {{ill|André Troost|nl}}
| academic_advisors  = 
| influences         = [H. Evan Runner](/source/H._Evan_Runner)
| era                = 
| discipline         = {{hlist | Theology | philosophy}}
| sub_discipline     = [Philosophical theology](/source/Philosophical_theology)
| workplaces         = {{nowrap|[Institute for Christian Studies](/source/Institute_for_Christian_Studies)}}
| doctoral_students  = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| notable_students   = [James K.&nbsp;A. Smith](/source/James_K._A._Smith)<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=James K.&nbsp;A. |author-link=James K. A. Smith |year=2005 |title=Jacques Derrida: Live Theory |location=London |publisher=Continuum |page=xiii |isbn=978-0-8264-6280-0}}</ref>
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[[File:A Vision of and for Love.pdf|thumb|A vision of and for love: Towards a Christian post-postmodern worldview (article developed from a paper delivered at the Koers-75 Conference on 'Worldview and Education', held in [Potchefstroom](/source/Potchefstroom), [South Africa](/source/South_Africa), from 30 May to 2 June 2011)]]
'''James Herman Olthuis''' (born 1938)<ref name="Olson 2013, p. 688"/> is an interdisciplinary scholar in [ethics](/source/ethics), [hermeneutics](/source/hermeneutics), [philosophical theology](/source/philosophical_theology), as well as a theorist and practitioner of [psychotherapy](/source/psychotherapy) of a kind he calls "relational psychotherapy".

==Life==
Olthuis studied under H. Evan Runner in philosophy at [Calvin College](/source/Calvin_College), Grand Rapids, Michigan;<ref name="Zuidervaart 2017">{{cite book |last=Zuidervaart |first=Lambert |year=2017 |title=Art, Education, and Cultural Renewal: Essays in Reformational Philosophy |location=Montreal |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-5044-5}}</ref><ref name="CV">{{cite web |last=Olthuis |first=James |year=2011 |title=Curriculum Vitae |url=http://www.nwu.ac.za/sites/www.nwu.ac.za/files/files/p-sphil/olthuis.doc |format=doc |publisher=North-West University |access-date=4 July 2018 |archive-date=5 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705063426/http://www.nwu.ac.za/sites/www.nwu.ac.za/files/files/p-sphil/olthuis.doc |url-status=dead }}</ref> then in theology at [Calvin Theological Seminary](/source/Calvin_Theological_Seminary);<ref name="CV"/> and finally in philosophical ethics at VU University, Amsterdam, where he received his [Doctor of Philosophy](/source/Doctor_of_Philosophy) degree under {{ill|André Troost|nl}} in 1968. Olthuis analyzed and critiqued the works of [G.&nbsp;E. Moore](/source/G.%26nbsp%3BE._Moore), his dissertation being entitled ''Facts, Values, and Ethics: A Confrontation with 20th Century British Moral Philosophy''.

==Positions held==
Olthuis was a senior member at the [Institute for Christian Studies](/source/Institute_for_Christian_Studies) in Toronto from 1968 to 2004 and continues to hold an emeritus position there.<ref>{{cite news |last=Overduin |first=Hendrik |date=12 August 1970 |title=The House of Subversion on Lyndhurst Ave. |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Szc_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=wlEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4116,5327962 |newspaper=The Windsor Star |location=Windsor, Ontario |access-date=22 September 2011}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*(1968) ''Facts, Values and Ethics''
*(1975) ''I Pledge You My Troth''
*(1986) ''Keeping our Troth: Staying in Love During the Five Stages of Marriage''
*(1987) ''A Hermeneutics of Ultimacy''
*(1997) ''Knowing Other-wise: Philosophy on the Threshold of Spirituality'', ed.
*(2000) ''Towards an Ethics of Community'', ed.
*(2002) ''Religion With/out Religion: The Prayers and Tears of John D. Caputo'', ed.
*(2003) ''The Beautiful Risk: A New Psychology of Loving and Being Loved''
*(2005) ''Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, and Participation'', ed. with [James K.A. Smith](/source/James_K.A._Smith)

==Works about Olthuis==
*(2006) ''The Hermeneutics of Charity: Interpretation, Selfhood, and Postmodern Faith''

==See also==
* [Deconstruction](/source/Deconstruction)
* [List of thinkers influenced by deconstruction](/source/List_of_thinkers_influenced_by_deconstruction)
* [Postmodern theology](/source/Postmodern_theology)
* [Radical orthodoxy](/source/Radical_orthodoxy)
* [Christian psychology](/source/Christian_psychology)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Christianity|Philosophy|Psychology}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olthuis, James}}
Category:Living people
Category:American Christian theologians
Category:Canadian Christian theologians
Category:21st-century Canadian theologians
Category:Calvin University alumni
Category:Postmodernists
Category:Hermeneutists
Category:1938 births

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Olthuis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Olthuis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Olthuis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.