Showing papers in "Modern Theology in 2009"
TL;DR: This article put Weber and these writers alongside each other, and then undercut the discussion by considering a third possibility raised by some recent writers on theological aesthetics: that the world is still enchanted in certain ways.
Abstract: Max Weber described the modern world as disenchanted. By contrast, some contemporary writers have said that postmodernism and other developments are re-enchanting the world. I put Weber and these writers alongside each other, and then undercut the discussion by considering a third possibility raised by some recent writers on theological aesthetics: that the world is still enchanted in certain ways. But this third point of view depends on a wide reading of the concept of “sacrament”, and one very different from Weber's understanding.
36 citations
TL;DR: The authors argues that the Greek patristic doctrine of deification includes synergistic anthropology and sacramental realism that are in tension with the Reformation understandings of participation in God.
Abstract: Adolf von Harnack and Karl Barth were equally incensed by the detrimental impact that the notion of deification had had on Christian theology. Lately, however, theosis has been discovered in Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, the Wesleys, and an impressive number of other western authorities. This essay considers this sensational development and finds that (1) there is little agreement on what is constitutive of deification, making the notion an ecumenist's dream and a philosopher's nightmare; and (2) the agreement between the Greek Fathers and Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin on deification amounts to their endorsement of some form of participatory metaphysics. Calling for greater precision, this essay argues that the Greek patristic doctrine of deification includes synergistic anthropology and sacramental realism that are in tension with the Reformation understandings of participation in God.
34 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that narrative identity provides theology with an exemplary means of framing selfhood which is ultimately congruent with the orthodox Christian belief in the resurrection of the body of Jesus of Nazareth.
Abstract: This article attempts to reconcile the holistically understood and embodied philosophical anthropology indicated by Paul Ricoeur's concept of “narrative identity” with Christian personal eschatology, as realized in the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Narrative identity resonates with spiritual autobiography in the Christian tradition—evinced here by a brief comparison with the confessed self of St Augustine of Hippo—and offers to theology a means of explaining identity in a way which: 1) places care for the other firmly within the construction of one's sense of self; 2) accounts for radical change over time and 3) hints at the possibility of the in-breaking of the infinite into the finite. In this article I will contend that narrative identity provides theology with an exemplary means of framing selfhood which is ultimately congruent with the orthodox Christian belief in the resurrection of the body.
15 citations
TL;DR: Hauerwas and D'Costa as discussed by the authors argue that the practice of theology cannot be separated from religious practices beyond that, however, their arguments scarcely intersect, in part because of differing analyses of the "secularity" that underwrites the academy's skepticism of theology as a discipline.
Abstract: Stanley Hauerwas and Gavin D'Costa develop theological arguments for inclusion of constructive theology in Universities' curricula; Andrew Shanks offers an equivalent They share the conviction that the practice of theology cannot be separated from religious practices Beyond that, however, their arguments scarcely intersect, in part because of differing analyses of the “secularity” that underwrites the academy's skepticism of theology as a “discipline” Hauerwas analyses secularity theologically; Shanks urges that even secular societies exhibit “will to Honesty” (think, perhaps, “ultimate concern”) that is inherently religious and theological; D'Costa argues that central to secular liberalism is a commitment to genuine pluralism that ought to foster theologies in their particularities
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the question of which of the Persons of the Holy Trinity appeared to the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament and how has been investigated in two distinct theological aesthetics: one influenced by Augustine in the West and another that finds its culmination with Gregory Palamas in the East.
Abstract: Based on an analysis of certain theophanic narratives in the Hebrew Scriptures (Exodus 3 and 19, 1 Kings 19), this article poses the question of their Christian exegesis: which of the Persons of the Holy Trinity appeared to the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament and how? This seemingly trivial question has become a decisive and controversial topic in the formation of two distinct theological aesthetics: one influenced by Augustine in the West and another that finds its culmination with Gregory Palamas in the East. The aim of this article is to reconcile the polemical interpretations of Old Testament theophanies by employing a Christological understanding of aesthetics as developed by Hans Urs von Balthasar (in his Herrlichkeit) and a more nuanced understanding of signification as developed by Husserl and Merleau-Ponty under the concept of indication.
9 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the flight from bodies, relations, and politics in Gilles Deleuze is not due to his contemplative mysticism, but rather to his strident rejection of any transcendence.
Abstract: This essay adds a theological voice to the current debate over the legacy of Gilles Deleuze. It discusses Peter Hallward's charge that Deleuze is best read as a mystical, theophanic philosopher who values creativity to the detriment of real creatures. It argues that while Hallward is right to discern a flight from bodies, relations, and politics in Deleuze, this is due not to Deleuze's contemplative mysticism, but rather to his strident rejection of any transcendence. The essay then draws upon Thomas Merton in order to argue that only a fully contemplative engagement with transcendence allows us to save the sort of radical becoming that Deleuze sought but couldn't achieve.
8 citations
TL;DR: Theologians who reject sin moralism have, however, found it hard to distinguish sin from evil, partially because they share hidden assumptions with sin moralists as mentioned in this paper, but also partially because of the deep responsibility of deep responsibility.
Abstract: Sin is clearly evil, but what differentiates sin from evil? The idea that sin is moral evil is widely held, but important theological arguments have been posed against it. Theologians who reject sin moralism have, however, found it hard to distinguish sin from evil—partially because they share hidden assumptions with sin moralists. Helped by a philosophical theology of deep responsibility, I propound sin responsibilism: sin is culpable evil. This analysis of sin is open to multiple accounts of sin's relation to morality or theories of responsibility, and thus of sin's scope—but I defend a non-moralistic, compatibilist sin responsibilism.
8 citations
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors consider three recent studies at the intersection of theology and intellectual disability and make constructive proposals against a background of literature in which Nancy Eiesland and Stanley Hauerwas are central.
Abstract: This review essay considers three recent studies at the intersection of theology and intellectual disability. All three authors work out constructive proposals against a background of literature in which Nancy Eiesland and Stanley Hauerwas are central. Each explores the nature of intellectual disability through interdisciplinary study and draws this work into conversation with classical Christian theology. The essay welcomes these three books, and also suggests ways in which their constructive proposals might be strengthened. In particular, their use of resources within late ancient Christian tradition fails to take into account some of the doctrinal formulations most congenial to their projects.
7 citations
TL;DR: A genealogical study as discussed by the authors traces a "broadly Cartesian" pattern of argumentation from Augustine's scriptural semiotic to the "narrowly Cartes" practice of foundationalism to Charles Peirce's pragmatic and reparative semiotic.
Abstract: A genealogical study that traces a “broadly Cartesian” pattern of argumentation: from Augustine's scriptural semiotic to the “narrowly Cartesian” practice of foundationalism to Charles Peirce's pragmatic and reparative semiotic. The essay argues (1) that Augustine transformed Stoic logic into a scriptural semiotic; (2) that this semiotic breeds both Cartesian foundationalism and the pragmatic semiotic that repairs it; (3) that Peirce's semiotic displays the latter. In sum, Augustine's inquiry risks foundationalism but also breeds a self-corrective “reparative reasoning.” This reasoning is at once scriptural and philosophic.
7 citations
TL;DR: This paper reviewed four recent English translations of works by the Greek thinker, Christos Yannaras, and drew out some of his fundamental themes: the centrality of the notion of the person, which is fulfilled in the self-transcendence of love, the place of the apophatic, and the use of imagery and poetry in theology.
Abstract: This article reviews four recent English translations of works by the Greek thinker, Christos Yannaras. It sets Yannaras' work in its historical context, and draws out some of his fundamental themes: the centrality of the notion of the person, which is fulfilled in the self-transcendence of love, the place of the apophatic, and the use of imagery and poetry in theology. It also seeks to contextualize the sometimes quite strident anti-Westernism of Yannaras' thought, and show how he draws on themes from patristic theology to provide a viable solution to the problems caused by Western individualism and consumerism.
TL;DR: This article examined the influence of the analogy of being on Balthasar's interpretations of these analogies, his understanding of created masculinity, and his use of the language of sexual difference for the Holy Spirit.
Abstract: Sexual difference plays a pivotal role in Balthasar's thought, as an analogy for the Trinity and as an analogy for the relation between Christ and the church This essay examines the influence of the analogy of being on his interpretations of these analogies, his understanding of created masculinity, and his use of the language of sexual difference for the Holy Spirit Ultimately many of Balthasar's best insights about human love as an analogy for divine love can be retained without connecting femininity uniquely with creation, and his trinitarian theology provides the best interpretive key for doing so
TL;DR: The authors explored the strategies of two major early Christian bishops, Cyprian and Basil of Caesarea, to read and cure the variant scripts of envy and related invidious passions in concrete ecclesial contexts.
Abstract: Incorporating Martha Nussbaum's work on the “intelligence” of human emotions in Greco-Roman moral philosophy, Robert Kaster's analysis of the “narrative scripts” of rivalrous emotions in antiquity, and Rene Girard's insights into the role of “mimetic desire” in human envy, this article explores the strategies of two major early Christian bishops, Cyprian and Basil of Caesarea, to “read” and to cure the variant scripts of envy and related invidious passions in concrete ecclesial contexts. The article also examines certain monastic theologians in late antiquity who aspired to preempt invidious passions by encouraging salutary scripts of competition in virtue that realized equality of honor in their respective communities.
TL;DR: In this article, a review article discusses Jean-Luc Marion's latest book Au lieu de soi, in which Marion lets the theology and phenomenology of givenness interact with Augustine's œuvre.
Abstract: This review article discusses Jean-Luc Marion's latest book Au lieu de soi. L'approche de Saint-Augustin, in which Marion lets the theology and phenomenology of givenness interact with Augustine's œuvre. The article provides an extensive summary of Marion's book and offers a critical analysis by linking Au lieu de soi to Marion's earlier work. Apart from this, this review hopes to open some parallels with the work of Emmanuel Levinas and Jean-Yves Lacoste if only to show how easily a certain strand of Augustinianism blends with contemporary thought.
TL;DR: The authors examines how Michel Henry's and Jean-Luc Marion's continuation of phenomenology's turn to the invisible relates to painting, aesthetics, and theology, concluding that Henry's phenomenology, theologically applied, exercises an inadequate Kantian apophasis, characterized by a sublime sacrifice of the imagination; although Marion's work sometimes evidences a similar tendency, its prevailing momentum offers theology a fully catholic scope.
Abstract: This essay examines how Michel Henry's and Jean-Luc Marion's continuation of phenomenology's turn to the invisible relates to painting, aesthetics, and theology. First, it discusses Henry and Marion's redefinition of phenomenality. Second, it explores Henry's “Kandinskian” description of abstract painting as expressing “Life.” Third, it explicates Marion's “Rothkoian” rehabilitation of the idol and renewed zeal for the icon—both phenomena exemplify “givenness.” Fourth, it unpacks my thesis: Henry's phenomenology, theologically applied, exercises an inadequate Kantian apophasis, characterized by a sublime sacrifice of the imagination; although Marion's work sometimes evidences a similar tendency, its prevailing momentum offers theology a fully catholic scope.
TL;DR: Within both contemporary inner-city street life and early modern courtly civility, persons acquire value through being acknowledged by others as mentioned in this paper, though dependent on others for a sense of self-worth constructed by external tokens of respect, they are unable to experience dependency as gift.
Abstract: Within both contemporary inner-city street life and early modern courtly civility, persons acquire value through being acknowledged by others. Though dependent on others for a sense of self-worth constructed by external tokens of respect, they are unable to experience dependency as gift. Humility thus appears as an admission of lack of worth, rather than as a confession of the dependent character of one's worth. What might contemporary Christians retrieve from the Augustinian critique of an ethic of glory in attempting to diagnose and respond to contemporary social dislocations, and how might churches contribute productively to disrupting the zero-sum competition for respect?
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors pointed out that the contextualization of Christianity in China has been successful in adapting the Christian faith and life to the social, historical, and political context where the Chinese Christians live today.
Abstract: The spirituality and theology of Chinese Protestant believers and pastors is rooted in the profoundly conservative Evangelical-revivalist and Pietistic missionary background of the Chinese church. Bishop K. H. Ting (b. 1915), the most prominent church leader and theologian of the Protestant church of China during the last decades, intends to broaden the narrow theological scope of the Chinese Christians. He emphasizes Trinitarian theology, natural theology, the theology of creation, and ethical principles common to all human beings. On the basis of these concepts, Ting attempts to find points of contact between the Christian faith, on the one hand, and traditional Chinese culture and modern secular Chinese society, on the other.
Some critics of K. H. Ting claim that he is trying to introduce into Chinese Christianity liberal theological views which would eventually destroy some of the main pillars of the Evangelical faith. The present essay argues that this, in fact, is not the case; rather, K. H. Ting speaks for theological perspectives which belong to the theological mainstream, the ecumenical heritage of classical theology commonly accepted by a large number of both Protestant and Catholic theologians.
Moreover, the essay points out that the contextualization of Christianity in China has been successful in adapting the Christian faith and life to the social, historical, and political context where the Chinese Christians live today. But the cultural aspect of contextualization, or inculturation, is just in the beginning. Younger Chinese theologians have a great challenge in facing the question: How to relate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to five thousand years of Chinese cultural experience, and how to connect this with various global cultural, economic, and other influences which so deeply affect the life of all people on this planet?
TL;DR: This article argued that Solov'ev's theology is more accurately understood as a unique form of Christology which integrates Gnostic and Idealist thought into Chalcedonian orthodoxy, and that it attempts to find the created on the uncreated without collapsing one into the other or ontologically contrasting them.
Abstract: Vladimir Solov'ev (1853–1900) is one of the major influences on Sergii Bulgakov's “sophiology” and has been praised by both Hans Urs von Balthasar and John Milbank. However, his theology has often been read as a mere “religious philosophy” unduly influenced by Gnosticism and German Idealism. The article argues that Solov'ev's theology is more accurately understood as a unique form of Christology which integrates Gnostic and Idealist thought into Chalcedonian orthodoxy. Solov'ev's most important contribution is a sophiological reading of Christology which attempts to found the created on the uncreated without collapsing one into the other or ontologically juxtaposing them.
TL;DR: In this paper, the value of Iris Murdoch's metaphysical ethics for the theologian is explored, and it is shown that real, selfless love is only possible when the ego understands itself in the context of theological transcendence.
Abstract: This article explores the value of Iris Murdoch's metaphysical ethics for the theologian. Although, in many ways, Murdoch does appeal to the theologian, a subtle form of nihilism underlies her thought insofar as human goodness—in the form of loving attention—is only possible once the individual has overcome his/her ego by staring into the void and accepting the ultimate meaninglessness of reality. As this article demonstrates, Murdoch's replacement of transcendence with void rules out any form of real love or human goodness: only a dualistic exchange of gazes remains possible. Real, selfless love is only possible when the ego understands itself in the context of theological transcendence.
TL;DR: In this paper, the notion of love of God for God's sake, purged of any desire for benefit, and an understanding of what it is to do theology within earshot of the cries of those in distress are explored.
Abstract: David Ford's Christian Wisdom is offered in the context of navigating between a theology articulated abstractly and a theology engaged with human practicalities. He explores the notion of love of God for God's sake, love of God purged of any desire for benefit, and an understanding what it is to do theology within earshot of the cries of those in distress. These themes are brought into intense dialogue with the teaching of Jesus, the Shoah, and the book of Job. Subsequently, the understanding of Christian wisdom is tested against the inter-faith wisdom disclosed in Scriptural Reasoning, in understanding the formation of Christian wisdom through the evolution and re-invention of universities especially after trauma, and the interpersonal wisdom sought in the communities of L'Arche.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors relate the thinking of Paul Ricoeur, John Milbank, Philip Goodchild and Albino Barrera to a specific economic reform that entails seeing land enclosure as inimical to the stability and fairness of an economy.
Abstract: The theological revivification of the concept of gift and gift exchange in the last two decades has provoked questions on how notions of divine superabundance can be translated into economics. In this article, I relate the thinking of Paul Ricoeur, John Milbank, Philip Goodchild and Albino Barrera to a specific economic reform that entails seeing land enclosure as inimical to the stability and fairness of an economy. I refer to the political economy of Henry George (1839-97) which takes land value taxation to be its centrally defining principle for a just economy.
TL;DR: The authors introduce Bulgakov's theology of creation and evil in order to develop a theology of language, conceiving language as the path along which humans receive their own givenness, but also participate in the creation of the world.
Abstract: The essay introduces Sergei Bulgakov's theology of creation and evil in order to develop a theology of language, conceiving language as the path along which humans receive their own givenness, but also participate in the creation of the world. Poetry's attention to the difficulty of language, its acceptance of artificial disciplines, and its nonrational mode of knowledge uniquely attune it to language's creative—and destructive—potential. Like a monastery for language, poetry enacts a linguistic askesis, schooling its language and its readers in conversion. The essay includes a close reading of Gjertrud Schnackenberg's poem, “Supernatural Love.” A conclusion situates the essay's program for a theology of literature in relation to Henri de Lubac's work on spiritual exegesis and Hans Urs von Balthasar's use of literature in his theology.
TL;DR: The authors argue that an urbane Prometheanism is what properly characterizes Kant's philosophy of religion, from his epistemic work in the first Critique, through his way of parsing theological and philosophical discursive responsibilities, to his actual hermeneutics of Christian doctrine.
Abstract: This essay argues that Kant's writings on religion recapitulate or anticipate many of the theoretical moves we find in Promethean discourses of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The first portion of the article lays out fundamental elements of Promethean discourse from a theological point of view, and distinguishes between “aggressive” and “urbane” Prometheanism. I contend that both types attack divine transcendence and Christian doxology, focus almost entirely on soteriology to the detriment of creation, and advocate a movement from theo-centric discourse to anthropocentric discourse. Yet urbane Prometheanism differs from its aggressive cousin by moving from hatred of God to a non-dialogical mode of indifference to God as an impotent and inconsequential deity. I argue that an urbane Prometheanism is what properly characterizes Kant's philosophy of religion—from his epistemic work in the first Critique, through his way of parsing theological and philosophical discursive responsibilities, to his actual hermeneutics of Christian doctrine.
TL;DR: In this article, an alternative incarnation-centered approach, based on a more classically orthodox conception of divine defeat of evil, which is immune to the criticisms I raise against Adams's approach, is presented.
Abstract: In this essay, I assess Marilyn McCord Adams's important and provocative incarnation-centered approach to the problem of evil. In particular, I examine the central theological components of her approach: her novel but also problematic conceptions of creation, sin, redemption, grace, and eschatological consummation. My further goal is to use my critical analysis of Adams's approach in order to begin to articulate and defend an alternative incarnation-centered approach, based on a more classically orthodox conception of divine defeat of evil, which is both immune to the criticisms I raise against Adams's approach and possesses a higher degree of explanatory power.
TL;DR: In this article, three models used by Simone Weil to describe the concept of grace are analyzed and connected to two geometric figures (triangle and cross) to point out the noetic, cosmological, theological, phenomenological, and mystical implications of Weil's philosophy.
Abstract: This article explores three models used by Simone Weil to describe the concept of grace. In these models grace is depicted as a divine movement that (a) persuades the person to look for transcendent unity behind contradictions; that (b) redirects human attention to God; and that (c) transforms the soul through a process of passivity and waiting. By analyzing the differences and similarities of these three models and by connecting them to two geometric figures (triangle and cross), this article points out the noetic, cosmological, theological, phenomenological, and mystical implications of Weil's philosophy.
TL;DR: The authors examines Hans Urs von Balthasar's little-known Foreword to the Christian esoteric text, Meditations on the Tarot by Valentin Tomberg, and draws attention to Tomberg's innovatively irenic approach to Christian anti-Gnosticism.
Abstract: The essay examines Hans Urs von Balthasar's little-known Foreword to the Christian esoteric text, Meditations on the Tarot by Valentin Tomberg. It argues that von Balthasar respected and advocated this ostensibly occult text because he found its capacious understanding of Christian faith as true gnosis similar to his own. The essay explains that both Tomberg and von Balthasar practice a rule-governed Christian esotericism whose goal is support for a fruitful ecclesial spirituality and resistance to non-ecclesial esoteric Gnosticism. Both Tomberg and von Balthasar believe that esotericism without prayer and institutional grounding can become narcissistic and self-righteous to the point of megalomania, and consequently it tends to become manipulative and coercive to the point of violence. Both authors maintain that authentic esotericism, by contrast, is marked by radical humility and non-violence; it is biblical, ecclesial, and committed to the unity of metaphysical reason and prayerful faith. The essay also draws attention to Tomberg's innovatively irenic approach to Christian anti-Gnosticism.