Hans G. Ulrich | Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (original) (raw)

Papers by Hans G. Ulrich

Königshausen & Neumann eBooks, 2017

FAU University Press, 2013

Ethik im Konflikt der Überzeugungen, 2004

Verkündigung und Forschung, Mar 1, 1978

Studies in Christian Ethics, 2022

missionally deficient. For both the culturalist and the secularist, the Gospel becomes ideology―a... more missionally deficient. For both the culturalist and the secularist, the Gospel becomes ideology―a warning the contemporary North American church would do well to heed. Bonhoeffer’s emphasis on the presence of Christ, however, overcomes this ideologising tendency and properly locates the logic of mission within the logic of discipleship. ‘The key to mission’, Taylor writes, ‘lies in the community’s ability to discern anew the form of engagement with the world that corresponds to Christ’s presence in a given time and place’ (p. 245). As a result, a truly missional hermeneutic must be ongoing, patient, intercultural and liturgical. Although Bonhoeffer rarely uses ‘mission’ language, Taylor correctly identifies the missional thrust of Bonhoeffer’s thought. However, the argument of these chapters is not always presented in the clearest manner. Part of the difficulty is attributable to the ambiguity surrounding the language of mission, an ambiguity inherent to the missional theology conversation itself. When mission is understood in Christological and Trinitarian terms the dichotomy between cultural formation and worldly engagement is overcome, as is evident in Taylor’s following of Bonhoeffer and locating mission in participation in Christ. However, when mission is spoken of as simply another activity of the church, as Taylor seems to do at other points, it ends up reinscribing the dichotomies that must be overcome, staging the church’s communal formation and encounter with the world in competitive terms. To this end, it is noteworthy that one of the rare places where Bonhoeffer employs the word mission is in speaking of the Finkenwalde experiment in theological formation, writing, ‘We are not dealing with a concern of some private circles but with a mission entrusted to the church’ (Life Together, Fortress, 2005, p. 25). Reading Scripture as the Church is a stimulating contribution to the discourse of theological interpretation that succeeds in its effort to foreground the liveliness of the church’s Lord while acknowledging the importance of the penultimate relationships that define the church’s identity. It convincingly argues for the necessity of holding together in an asymmetrically ordered relationship the sacramental and regulative functions of Scripture, or the performative and informative approaches to Scripture. In doing so, it offers a gift to Bonhoeffer studies by redirecting the field to the animating concerns that stood at the heart of the young German theologian’s life and ministry. In the twilight of post-Christendom, Taylor offers an often confused and beleaguered church wise counsel, rich with dominical promise, for when disciples on the road together turn to Scripture asking, ‘Who is Jesus Christ for us today?’, the risen One has demonstrated a propensity for drawing near and addressing them anew.

Evangelische Theologie, 1971

De Gruyter eBooks, Jul 16, 2010

Evangelische Verlagsanstalt eBooks, 2023

Königshausen & Neumann eBooks, 2017

FAU University Press, 2013

Ethik im Konflikt der Überzeugungen, 2004

Verkündigung und Forschung, Mar 1, 1978

Studies in Christian Ethics, 2022

missionally deficient. For both the culturalist and the secularist, the Gospel becomes ideology―a... more missionally deficient. For both the culturalist and the secularist, the Gospel becomes ideology―a warning the contemporary North American church would do well to heed. Bonhoeffer’s emphasis on the presence of Christ, however, overcomes this ideologising tendency and properly locates the logic of mission within the logic of discipleship. ‘The key to mission’, Taylor writes, ‘lies in the community’s ability to discern anew the form of engagement with the world that corresponds to Christ’s presence in a given time and place’ (p. 245). As a result, a truly missional hermeneutic must be ongoing, patient, intercultural and liturgical. Although Bonhoeffer rarely uses ‘mission’ language, Taylor correctly identifies the missional thrust of Bonhoeffer’s thought. However, the argument of these chapters is not always presented in the clearest manner. Part of the difficulty is attributable to the ambiguity surrounding the language of mission, an ambiguity inherent to the missional theology conversation itself. When mission is understood in Christological and Trinitarian terms the dichotomy between cultural formation and worldly engagement is overcome, as is evident in Taylor’s following of Bonhoeffer and locating mission in participation in Christ. However, when mission is spoken of as simply another activity of the church, as Taylor seems to do at other points, it ends up reinscribing the dichotomies that must be overcome, staging the church’s communal formation and encounter with the world in competitive terms. To this end, it is noteworthy that one of the rare places where Bonhoeffer employs the word mission is in speaking of the Finkenwalde experiment in theological formation, writing, ‘We are not dealing with a concern of some private circles but with a mission entrusted to the church’ (Life Together, Fortress, 2005, p. 25). Reading Scripture as the Church is a stimulating contribution to the discourse of theological interpretation that succeeds in its effort to foreground the liveliness of the church’s Lord while acknowledging the importance of the penultimate relationships that define the church’s identity. It convincingly argues for the necessity of holding together in an asymmetrically ordered relationship the sacramental and regulative functions of Scripture, or the performative and informative approaches to Scripture. In doing so, it offers a gift to Bonhoeffer studies by redirecting the field to the animating concerns that stood at the heart of the young German theologian’s life and ministry. In the twilight of post-Christendom, Taylor offers an often confused and beleaguered church wise counsel, rich with dominical promise, for when disciples on the road together turn to Scripture asking, ‘Who is Jesus Christ for us today?’, the risen One has demonstrated a propensity for drawing near and addressing them anew.

Evangelische Theologie, 1971

De Gruyter eBooks, Jul 16, 2010

Evangelische Verlagsanstalt eBooks, 2023