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At the Dawn of âPracticeâ or Re-thinking the Nature and Role of Theology and Doctrine in the Church
in Journal of Reformed TheologySearch for other papers by Najib G. Awad in
Current site
Google Scholar
âAre theology and doctrine the names of the churchâs life of worship and proclamation, or are they their foundations? Is it acceptable theologically to develop an understanding of theology and doctrine that would completely subordinate beliefs to practices to the point of completely functionalizing beliefs and turn theology and doctrine to mere way of life? In this paper, I address these important questions by displaying two attempts at understanding the nature and role of theology and doctrine. The first approach is exemplified in Kevin Vanhoozerâs proposal in The Drama of Doctrine, and Anthony Thiseltonâs proposal in The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, while, the second approach is exemplified in Reinhard Hütterâs proposal in his valuable book Suffering Divine Things. By critiquing Vanhoozerâs and Thiseltonâs approaches and siding with Hütterâs, I hope to stress that the accuracy of our understanding of the nature and role of theology and doctrine depends to a great and substantial extent on 1) how one understands theologyâs relation to its primary subject matter, God, and 2) on the extent of the theologianâs belief that God, not just human talk about God, is the proper object of theology.â¬
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1
âMiroslav Volf, âTheology for a Way of Life,â in Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life, Miroslav Volf & Dorothy C. Bass (eds.), (Grand Rapids, USA/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans, 2002), pp. 245â263, p. 258.â¬
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2
âMiroslav Volf, âTheology for a Way of Lifeâ. p. 258. Volf refers here to Pierre Hadotâs attempt at showing that philosophy is to be re-understood as mere way of living and as an attitude toward life-settings: Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault, Arnold I. Davidson (ed.), Michael Chase (trans), (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1995). The threatening reductionist approach to philosophy that Hadot offers applies, as Volf correctly notices, to a similar tendency that is threatening theological scholarship those days, as I will show in the following pages.â¬
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3
âVolf, âTheology for a Way of Life,â p. 260.â¬
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6
âReinhard Hütter, âThe Christian Life,â in The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, John Webster, Kathryn Tanner and Iain Torrance (eds.), (Oxford: University Press, 2007), pp. 285â305, p. 297. According to Hütter, the manifold reasons behind this turn to practices are the following: âa recovery of Aristotelian practical philosophy, mainly through the works of Alasdair McIntyre (1984); a re-emergence of the never completely extinguished interest in the practical aspect of the Christian faith in the Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal strands of American theology (Langford 1983; Wacker 2001); and an overall renewal of interest in various forms of pragmatism after the alleged demise of metaphysical thinkingâ (p. 296).â¬
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7
âKathryn Tanner, âTheological Reflection and Christian Practicesâ, in Practicing Theology, pp. 228â242, p. 228. Mark Taylor calls these traditional ways of doing theology âdiachronistic strategiesâ and accuses them of being crudely hegemonic in their total emphasis on âthe historical process, enduring legacy and appropriation of past traditions.â By this, Taylor argues, theology is forced to ignore the more appropriate âsynchronic strategiesâ that pay attention to the present cultural and socio-political practices in the world: Mark K. Taylor, âCelebrating Difference, Resisting Domination: The Need for Synchronic Strategies in Theological Educationâ, in Shifting Boundaries, pp. 259â293, pp. 260â268.â¬
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9
âTanner, âTheological Reflection and Christian Practicesâ, p. 230.â¬
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11
âCraig Dykstra, âReconceiving Practiceâ, in Shifting Boundaries, pp. 35â66, p. 35.â¬
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12
âDykstra, âReconceiving Practiceâ, p. 37. Also on the basicality of social sciences and the socio-cultural contextâs role in the intelligibility and meaningfulness of any practice, see Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981), Ch. 15.â¬
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13
âDykstra, âReconceiving Practiceâ, p. 37. Italics are mine.â¬
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14
âDykstra, âReconceiving Practiceâ, p. 58.â¬
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15
âDuncan B. Forrester, âDivinity in Use and Practice,â in Theology and Practice, D.B. Forrester (ed.), (London: Epworth Press, 1990), pp. 3â9, p. 6. Forresterâs focus on the incarnational connotations of practice, however, seems to be taking him away from the task of transcending the duality into what may signify an over-emphasis on practice. Forrester contends that âif theology is compelled to choose between regarding itself as a âpureâ theoretical science in the Greek sense or a practical science ⦠it cannot but opt for the latter, for theology ⦠consists in use and practiceâ (p. 7). Assuming such a choice-making framework begs dualistic thinking rather than transcends it. One can, however, understand this concern about practice from a theologian specialized in Ethics and practical theology. The problem starts when we reduce theology as a discipline or a church activity into mere practice or performance analysis.â¬
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17
âThus Sue Patterson, Realist Christian Theology in a Postmodern Age, (Cambridge: University Press, 1999), p. 35.â¬
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18
âGeorge A. Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Post-liberal Age, (London: SPCK, 1984), p. 31.â¬
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21
âLindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine, p. 69. Sue Patterson comments on Lindbeckâs above mentioned claim bay saying that the latter actually âfails to suggest how this accommodation and combination may be achievedâ: Patterson, Realist Christian Theology in a Postmodern Age, p. 41. David Ford in his turn utters earlier than Patterson a similar critique of Lindbeckâs proposal: David Ford, âSystem, Story, Performanceâ, in Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology, S. Hauerwas and L.G. Jones (eds.), (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Erdmans Publishing company, 1989), pp. 191ff.â¬
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24
âWilliam C. Placher, âPaul Ricoeur and Posliberal Theologyâ, in Modern Theology, 4 (1987), pp. 33ff., p. 46, and Sue Patterson, Realist Christian Theology in a Postmodern Age, p. 39 and Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine, p. 106 (pp. 66â67).â¬
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25
âAnthony C. Thiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, (Grand Rapids, Mich/ Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans, 2007), p. 34.â¬
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26
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 38.â¬
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27
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 37.â¬
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28
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 63.â¬
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29
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 63.â¬
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30
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 65.â¬
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31
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 77.â¬
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33
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 162 (pp. 156â162).â¬
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34
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, pp. 451â487.â¬
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35
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 455.â¬
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36
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 461.â¬
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37
âThiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, p. 463.â¬
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38
âKevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology, (Louisville, Ken: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), p. 77.â¬
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39
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 78.â¬
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40
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 79.â¬
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41
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 81.â¬
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42
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 81.â¬
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43
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 83.â¬
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44
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 85, what Vanhoozer speaks about as an âEpicâ nature of doctrine (pp. 84â91).â¬
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45
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 91, which expresses treating doctrine as âLyricâ (pp. 91â93).â¬
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46
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 100.â¬
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48
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 101.â¬
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49
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 102.â¬
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50
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 103.â¬
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51
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 103.â¬
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53
âVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 103.â¬
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54
âWebster, âThe Self-organizing Power of the Gospel of Christ: Episcopacy and Community Formationâ, p. 71.â¬
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63
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, p. 41 (pp. 10ff.).â¬
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65
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, p. 42 (pp. 42â44). This, according to Hütter, indicates evidently that âa concrete theological and ecumenically urgent substantive problem rather than a change of fashion in philosophy and theology prompted Lindbeck to formulate his own cultural-linguistic proposalâ (p. 42).â¬
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66
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, p. 45; citing from Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine, p. 33.â¬
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69
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, pp. 46â47. Hütter detects this in what he considers to be Lindbeckâs failure to present an explicit and sufficiently examined hermeneutics on how the specific configurations of language and socially-shaped activityâwhich are regulative of human religiosityâcan make the person an active participant in the churchly activities that are conducted by the religious Christian community for reflecting Godâs redemptive actions.â¬
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70
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, p. 216, nt. 45.â¬
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71
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, p. 63. Why cannot theology according to Lindbeckâs model be free from such a tension? Hütter answers this question in the following way: âA consistently intra-textual theology implies that its âthick descriptionâ is so encompassed and shaped by its object that it cannot examine itself thematically without at the same time examining thematically its pathic nature, that is, without understanding itself from the perspective of its object. Hence a consistently intra-textual theology cannot really abstract at all from the âsimple talkâ of God without falling into self-contradiction. Even in its methodological self-explication intra-textual theology must remain theological, that is, explicitly oriented toward Godâs activity, It cannot avoid the question of its pathos.â Earlier to Hütter, Sue Patterson pointed at this extra/meta-theological nature of Lindbeckâs proposal in Sue Patterson, Realist Christian Theology in a Postmodern Age, p. 33 (pp. 33â52).â¬
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82
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, pp. 153â158, where Hütter relies on John Zizioulasâ trinitarian analysis of truth, by the help of the Greek patristic trinitarian ontology, in Zizioulas, Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church, (Crestwood: St. Vladimirâs Seminary Press, 1993). For an evaluation of Zizioulasâ trinitarian ontology and his interpretation of the Cappadocian trinitarian theology, see Najeeb G. Awad, âBetween Subordination and Koinonia: toward a New Reading of the Cappadocian Theology,â in Modern Theology, 2(23), 2007, pp. 181â204.â¬
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83
âHütter, Suffering Divine Things, p. 173; that is, as an actualization of Godâs promissio by means of a corresponsive vita passiva relationship with the triune God.â¬
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85
âHütter, âHospitality and Truth: The Disclosure of Practice in Worship and Doctrineâ, in Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life, Miroslav Volf & Dorothy C. Bass (eds.), (Grand Rapids, USA/Cambridge, UK: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), pp. 206â227.â¬
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86
âHütter, âHospitality and Truthâ, p. 214.â¬
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87
âHütter, âHospitality and Truthâ, p. 223.â¬
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88
âHütter, âHospitality and Truthâ, p. 224.â¬
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89
âHütter, âHospitality and Truthâ, p. 224.â¬
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91
âVolf, âTheology for a Way of Lifeâ, p. 260.â¬
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92
âTanner, âTheological Reflection and Christian Practicesâ, p. 234.â¬
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95
âHütter, âThe Knowledge of the Triune God: Practices, Doctrine, Theologyâ, in Knowing the Triune God: The Work of the Spirit in the Practice of the Church, James J. Buckley and David S. Yeago (eds.), (Grand rapids, USA/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans, 2001), pp. 23â48, p. 32.â¬
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âHütter, âThe Knowledge of the Triune Godâ, p. 39. As a central claim, Hütter suggests that âas the work of the Spirit, the church participates in the Spiritâs sanctifying mission. In this sense, the church is precisely the Spiritâs public.ââ¬
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98
âHütter, âThe Knowledge of the Triune God: Practices, Doctrine, Theology,â p. 23.â¬
| Insgesamt | Letzte 365 Tage | In den letzten 30 Tagen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen | 323 | 87 | 8 |
| Gesamttextansichten | 227 | 1 | 0 |
| PDF-Downloads | 30 | 2 | 0 |
At the Dawn of âPracticeâ or Re-thinking the Nature and Role of Theology and Doctrine in the Church
in Journal of Reformed TheologySearch for other papers by Najib G. Awad in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
âAre theology and doctrine the names of the churchâs life of worship and proclamation, or are they their foundations? Is it acceptable theologically to develop an understanding of theology and doctrine that would completely subordinate beliefs to practices to the point of completely functionalizing beliefs and turn theology and doctrine to mere way of life? In this paper, I address these important questions by displaying two attempts at understanding the nature and role of theology and doctrine. The first approach is exemplified in Kevin Vanhoozerâs proposal in The Drama of Doctrine, and Anthony Thiseltonâs proposal in The Hermeneutics of Doctrine, while, the second approach is exemplified in Reinhard Hütterâs proposal in his valuable book Suffering Divine Things. By critiquing Vanhoozerâs and Thiseltonâs approaches and siding with Hütterâs, I hope to stress that the accuracy of our understanding of the nature and role of theology and doctrine depends to a great and substantial extent on 1) how one understands theologyâs relation to its primary subject matter, God, and 2) on the extent of the theologianâs belief that God, not just human talk about God, is the proper object of theology.â¬
| Insgesamt | Letzte 365 Tage | In den letzten 30 Tagen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen | 323 | 87 | 8 |
| Gesamttextansichten | 227 | 1 | 0 |
| PDF-Downloads | 30 | 2 | 0 |
