David Tracy: the influences on his development as a theologian and thinker (original) (raw)
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"Lean not upon thy own prudence": David Tracy On Faith And Theology
All men desire to know the causes of things and seek to understand the ground for what they do not fully grasp in their knowledge. And yet, due to the limitations and weakness of our finite corporeal nature, no one is capable all alone to know the deepest causes and foundations of reality without relying in some way upon the help and guidance of other men. And so, all must rely to some extent upon others so as to gather the information and knowledge necessary for a fullness of life. Not being present in all times or places and not grasping all possible conclusions in our knowledge, we must rely upon the testimony of others for what is beyond our comprehension. This is what it means to believe and, in the context of religion, that in which one believes is called “revelation.” Faith, then, is “a believing response to God’s revealing word” which is based on a “prior act of revelation on God’s part.” Without such revelation, faith would have no basis and no object. Thus, “revelation is seen as foundational to the religious life of the individual, to the mission of the Church, and to the method of theology.” And it is by an act of supernatural faith in God’s revelation that the Christian achieves a true fullness of life and ultimate consummation in the life to come. In contrast to this supernatural view of revelation lies the thesis of David Tracy who sees the truly “‘authentic’ person” not as one who achieves fullness in the life to come through faith in God’s revealing word, but as one who is committed above all else to the full affirmation of the ultimate significance of our lives in this world. Such a fundamental commitment can be described as a faith, i.e., as a basic orientation or attitude which determines one’s cognitive beliefs and one’s individual ethical actions. The most basic expression of such faith, moreover, is probably best described as the faith of secularity: that fundamental attitude which affirms the ultimate significance and final worth of our lives, our thoughts, and actions, here and now, in nature and in history.” The belief, then, and faith of the theologian is limited to the temporal secular realm for Tracy while for Dulles and the first Vatican council, it is a supernatural virtue whereby we believe in the things that God reveals, not because it accords with natural reason, “but because of the authority of God himself who reveals them.” For Tracy, however, faith excludes the supernatural, and thus is something that can be shared by both secularists and Christians: "The modern theologian . . . finds that his basic faith, his fundamental attitude towards reality, is the same faith shared implicitly or explicitly by his secular contemporaries. No more than they, can he allow belief in a ‘supernatural’ realm of ultimate significance or in a supernatural God who seems, in the end, indifferent to the ultimate significance of our actions." Faith, then, for Tracy, is a fundamentally natural phenomenon, committed as it is to finding man’s ultimate purpose and meaning in this life, here and now. So, even though the theologian might have faith in God, that faith is only one that is in complete accordance with what can be known through nature and common experience. My purpose in this paper is to lay out the consequences of Tracy’s understanding of faith, and in particular how it affects his position on the nature and method of theology. Since Dulles is one of the more critical reviewers of Tracy’s work, I have found it helpful to include him in the conversation and to use him as a foil in contrast to the views of the professor from Chicago.8 In my exposition I will first look at Tracy’s views on the sources of theology, then, how this affects his understanding of the nature and method of theology, and finally I will examine what he sees is the relation of theology to the Church and modern science.
The Plural and Ambiguous Self: The Theological Anthropology of David Tracy
2013
This introduction has four goals. First, I will offer a brief biographical sketch of Tracy's life in order to provide the context for the evolution of his theology. Second, I will describe the genealogical method used in this dissertation. This approach takes various concepts and themes and investigates how they develop over the course of his career. It takes account of early influences on Tracy as well as later conversation partners who affect the trajectory of his career. Third, I will consider and critique previous attempts to elucidate Tracy's anthropology, demonstrating the need for a new look at his thought. Fourth, I will explain the idea of "anthropological constants," a term borrowed from Edward Schillebeeckx, and why "constants" provide a useful heuristic for interpreting Tracy. Finally, I will provide an overview of the coming chapters. Biographical Sketch of David Tracy David William Tracy was born in Yonkers, NY on January 6 th , 1939, the middle son of John Charles Tracy, a union organizer, and Eileen Marie Tracy (née Rossell). He 4 Breyfogle and Levergood, "Conversation with David Tracy," 305-6 5 Dunwoodie was widely considered to be one of the best Roman Catholic seminaries in North America.
Theology as dialogue and fragment : saying God with David Tracy
2013
This thesis concerns the ideas of ‘dialogue’ and ‘fragment’ in the work of the American liberal Roman Catholic theologian David Tracy (bn. 1939). Dialogue (or ‘conversation’) established itself as a dominant idea for Tracy in the 1980s, whereas the centrality of fragments first emerged for Tracy in the late 1990s, to complicate and refine his earlier thinking. Despite this historical sequence, however, the organisation of this thesis is thematic rather than essentially chronological. The first three chapters focus on how in the later 1970s and 1980s Tracy adapted his ideas of conversation-dialogue from the thought of the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. Chapter Four examines some serious objections to Tracy’s concept of dialogic reason, before defending his basic choices and gesturing towards his more recent work as perhaps resolving real previous difficulties. Chapter Five explores the ‘ontological`’ thinking of Martin Heidegger, valuable for evaluating Tracy despite the latt...
Religious Studies Review, 2008
In these discussions, the author shows his allegiance to Derrida, defending him from various critical assessments. Powell's work thus provides the reader with a starting point for further study, but it does not answer any advanced questions about the most influential figures and ideas for Derrida. The book, while lacking rigorous analysis of Derrida's thought, is a successful general overview of the whole of his life and work, useful to anyone looking for an efficient introductory account of this prominent thinker.
That the world may believe: essays on mission and unity in honour of George Vandervelde Edited by M. Goheen and M. O'Gara, 2006
In this paper I shall interact explicitly with David Tracy's revised correlational approach as a potentially viable method for theology of culture. The first section describes Tracy's 1 approach and gives an initial critical assessment. Tracy owes his formulation to Paul Tillich, and thus, the reference to the latter as another conversational partner. What emerges as a constructive response is a dialogical Reformational perspective flowing from the fruits of my advanced theological training at Fuller Theological Seminary and my earlier years at the Institute for Christian Studies, where one of the formative influences in my theological journey was my indefatigable ecumenical and evangelical mentor, George Vandervelde. Tracy on Method: Mutually Critical Correlation of Bipolar Theological Sources This essay is adapted from the conclusion of my doctoral dissertation at Fuller Theological Seminary. See Timoteo 1 D. Gener, The Catholic Imagination in a Theology of Culture: A Conversation with David Tracy on Theology of Culture. I have chosen David Tracy's work for two reasons: First, he has made a fundamental contribution to the theology of culture. Oxford scholar F. W. Dillistone points to this. For him, Tracy's The Analogical Imagination ranks as "the most valuable contribution to theology and culture since the writings of Paul Tillich." ("Review of The Analogical Imagination," 325). Don Browning does the same and labels Tracy's approach as a "revised correlational approach to theology of culture." See his Religious Thought and Modern Psychologies, 15-16. Second, Tracy's correlational model of doing theology has been a congenial partner to the practice of theological inculturation in the Philippines. See Jose de Mesa, In Solidarity with the Culture, 1-42, esp., 20-21, 40-41; Cf. Stephen Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 81-96; Lode Wostyn and Jose de Mesa, Doing Theology; Dionisio Miranda, Loob: The Filipino Within. ! 1