The hermeneutic circle and authoral intention in divine revelation (original) (raw)
Related papers
William J. Abraham and Frederick D. Aquino. The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology
Journal of Analytic Theology
Analytic theology has, since its inception, been a metaphysics-heavy enterprise. Indeed, a brief perusal of the contents of The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology (i.e. a predecessor to the present volume under review) reveals as much. My noting this emphasis on metaphysics is not a criticism, for the fruits of Christian analytic metaphysics have been widespread indeed. Nevertheless, developments in epistemology have been at least as significant in many respects as those in metaphysics, and thus, the comparative rarity with which they emerge in discussion in contemporary theology is unfortunate. Such a lament, however, has in recent times become less apt, for with the release of The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology, we now have a text which ably introduces its audience of theologians, scriptural scholars, and philosophers to a broad class of epistemological concerns for theology. No one writing in analytic theology should remain wholly ignorant of its contents, which hail from many of the best epistemological and theological minds today. Due to constraints of space, in this review I provide a sampling of one of the best articles from each of the four sections included in the handbook. I begin with Sandra Menssen and Thomas D. Sullivan's "Revelation and Scripture", followed by Jason Baehr's "Virtue", Scott M. Williams's "John Duns Scotus", and close with Harriet A. Harris's "The Epistemology of Feminist Theology". In "Revelation and Scripture" Sandra Menssen and Thomas D. Sullivan develop a framework from which a non-believer might assess the Christian revelatory claim. That claim, as construed by Menssen and Sullivan, includes the proposition that Jesus is God's revelation, as are the propositions of the various creeds. Along the way, Menssen and Sullivan provide much helpful advice to the non-believer interested in understanding Christian faith. For instance, they point out that many facts, which they call CUE-facts (i.e. Conditional Upon Explanation), are the sorts of propositions that one would accept only if a reasonable explanation for their truth might be advanced. And plausibly the Christian revelatory claim consists of many such facts. Moreover, Menssen and Sullivan emphasize that a framework for evaluating evidence might additionally reveal other places to look for further evidence of Christianity in the way that Mendeleev's development of the periodic table of elements pointed him to the discovery of further elements. Keeping such features in mind while assessing evidence for the truth of Christian claims is indeed wise counsel.
"The Character of Theological Interpretation of Scripture" IJST, 12/2 (April, 2010)
Recent proposals for reading Scripture have increasingly focused on the role of divine agency. Greater attentiveness to the complexity and place of divine agency results in an irruption in the relationship between theological hermeneutics and theological interpretation and a challenge to the dominant way of perceiving their relationship since the rise of modernity. Thus it is increasingly recognized that Scripture is not read like other books. The unique character of theological interpretation necessarily originates in the unique character of the God who speaks the Word of the holy canon of Scripture: the Trinity. Our methodological formulations and hermeneutical understandings of theological interpretation must go beyond the formal acknowledgement of divine causality that remains in these recent proposals to thick confessional and dogmatic reflections on the character of the Trinity and the practices of reading which faithfully reflect that character.
On the Unique Origin of Revelation, Religious Intuition, and Theology
Process studies, 1999
Time and again, process theology has been accused of reducing theology to metaphysics, thereby eliminating the genuine source of theology, i.e., the experience of Gods revealing reality. In this regard, one recalls Langdon Gilkey who deplored this collapse of all problems to metaphysical problems. 1 According to Gilkey, the problem with metaphysics occurs when it loses its flowing, critical structure and begins to solidify into a constructional, systematic theory. Then, process theology seems to mutate into a guardian of a true, if not the only true, metaphysical theory. Consequently, the traditions of revelation devolve to mere variables of the solidified metaphysical constant. Moreover, the unique events relevant to theology, the genuine intuition of religious experience, and revelation-theological reflection cannot reach into the metaphysical core anymore and at all. 2 David Pailin appropriately summarizes this process-theological confession for the dissolution of revealed theology into general metaphysics in saying: God is active in all events, however difficult it may be in practice to identify his particular influence on and purpose in them. From this it follows that the distinction between natural and revealed theology is alien to a Whiteheadian understanding, whether the natural theology is empirical derived (cf. Paley and Tennet) ore more metaphysically oriented (cf. Aquinas five ways, especially the first four). A process theology that is true to Whiteheadian (and Harshornean) insight does not provide a case for affirming certain limited affirmations about the reality of God which are then to be augmented by a distinct kind of revealed theology. Rather it derives its theological understanding from the character and processes of reality in all its aspects. 3
Published in The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics, Niall Keane and Christopher Lawn (eds.), Oxford: Blackwell, 2015.
The original hermeneutics was theological, that is, theology was the origin of hermeneutics. The original hermeneutical discipline, and every hermeneutics even today, be it the hermeneutics of philosophy, of art, of law, of science, and so on, has retained something of its theological origin. Generally, this claim holds true for both ancient hermeneutics, being originally the interpretation of the ambiguous divine sign given within a prophetic context (e.g., dream, oracle, etc.), and for modern hermeneutics which was developed through the practice and methodology of scriptural exegesis. Yet, such a statement, if it is to be properly understood, needs to be taken as something more than a mere historical claim. It rather invites us to examine in greater depth the relationship between theology and hermeneutics so as to demonstrate how the origin of hermeneutics and thereby its character, regardless of its object, could not have been anything but theological. This can only be done if the remarks that follow fulfill this double imperative by being as much an exposition on theology as on hermeneutics.
This article registers an important shift that is occurring in contemporary theistic reflection: greater sensitivity to the function of God images, and the consequent ethical impacts. Three texts by Gunton, Johnson and McFague are discussed that exemplify this focus in an emphatic way. From this treatment the implications for Systematic Theology crystallise clearly. The rest of the article entails an exploration of the dynamics of the causal relationship between a specific God image and its corresponding effect. The ramifications for the task and responsibility of Systematic Theology are identified and in conclusion some normative guidelines are suggested.
Throughout the history of Christian thought, scripture and revelation have been Siamese twins; while they are logically distinct notions, they have been inseparable as actual entities. The crucial debates related to them have invariably centered on how to distinguish and connect them at the same time. The issue has been an epistemic one, for the primary concern has been to develop an account of the place of scripture and revelation in knowledge of God. Thus the very idea of revelation and the very idea of a canon of scripture have been taken to be the equivalent of a criterion of theological truth. From the medieval period until the virtual collapse of both notions in the recent past this has been the conventional construal.
The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology
Journal of Analytic Theology, 2019
Analytic theology has, since its inception, been a metaphysics-heavy enterprise. Indeed, a brief perusal of the contents of The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology (i.e. a predecessor to the present volume under review) reveals as much. My noting this emphasis on metaphysics is not a criticism, for the fruits of Christian analytic metaphysics have been widespread indeed. Nevertheless, developments in epistemology have been at least as significant in many respects as those in metaphysics, and thus, the comparative rarity with which they emerge in discussion in contemporary theology is unfortunate. Such a lament, however, has in recent times become less apt, for with the release of The Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology, we now have a text which ably introduces its audience of theologians, scriptural scholars, and philosophers to a broad class of epistemological concerns for theology. No one writing in analytic theology should remain wholly ignorant of its contents, which hail from many of the best epistemological and theological minds today.
What is Theological Interpretation? The Example of Robert W. Jenson
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2010
Theological interpretation is an approach to reading generated by a theological understanding of the biblical text, of the community that reads it theologically, and of the practice of reading. This essay argues this point on the basis of the work of one representative theological interpreter, Robert W. Jenson. In addition, it entertains John Barton's objection that theological interpretation amounts to eisegesis. The article concludes that theological exegesis does not necessarily involve reading one's views into the text, but rather that it results in putting the text to a different end.