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Chapter 4 The Modern Period, 1750 to the Present Day

Chapter 4 The Modern Period, 1750 to the Present Day. Alister E. McGrath Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought. The Enlightenment critique of Christian t heology. Omnicompetence of human reason The notion of revelation

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Chapter 4 The Modern Period, 1750 to the Present Day

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  1. Chapter 4The Modern Period, 1750 to the Present Day Alister E. McGrath Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought

  2. The Enlightenment critique of Christian theology • Omnicompetence of human reason • The notion of revelation • The status and interpretation of the Bible • The identity and significance of Jesus Christ • The doctrine of the Trinity • The critique of miracles • The rejection of original sin • The problem of evil • Romanticism and the critique of the Enlightenment • Intuition, imagination, feelings • Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834)

  3. The crisis of faith in Victorian England • A. N. Wilson, God’s Funeral (2000) • George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans, 1819-90) • Moral revolt • “religion of human sympathy” • Matthew Arnold (1822-88) • Dover Beach

  4. Excerpt from “Dover Beach” The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl’d. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.

  5. Postmodernism and a new theological agenda • Reason: Critique of universal rationality • Truth: Truth, power, and oppression • History: Rejection of universal history • Self: Multiple narratives of identity • Structural linguistics • Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) • Sign = signifier + signified • Deconstruction: no fixed meaning • Biblical interpretation: Suspicion toward historical-critical method • Systematic theology: Anti-systematization

  6. Key theologians • F. D. E. Schleiermacher (1768-1834) • John Henry Newman (1801-90) • Karl Barth (1886-1968) • Paul Tillich (1886-1965) • Karl Rahner (1904-84) • Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) • Jürgen Moltmann (b.1926) • WolfhartPannenberg (b.1928)

  7. Some recent Western theological movements and trends • Liberal Protestantism • Bridging the gap between Christian faith and modern knowledge • Christian beliefs in conflict with modern cultural norms:Abandoned or reinterpreted • Anchor faith in common human experience • Optimistic view of human nature • Paul Tillich (1886-1965) • Method of correlation • Criticisms: • Universal human religious experience? • Transient cultural developments • Abandonment of distinctive Christian doctrines

  8. Modernism • School of Catholic theologians, end of 19th century • Alfred Loisy (1857-1940) • George Tyrrell (1861-1909) • Modernism in England • Modernism in the United States

  9. Neo-orthodoxy • World War I • Karl Barth (1886-1968), Church Dogmatics • The self-revelation of God in Christ through Scripture • Dialectical theology • Neo-orthodoxy • Theology of the Word of God • Critiques: • Emphasis on transcendence and otherness of God • No external reference to verify claims (fideism) • No account of other religions

  10. Ressourcement(la nouvelle théologie) • Catholic theological revival in France • Return to the sources, traditions, creeds of the early church • Jean Daniélou, “The Present Orientations of Religious Thought” (1946) • Theology and spirituality

  11. Feminism • Conflict with Christianity • Reappraisal of Christian past: Sarah Coakley (b.1951) • The maleness of God • Rosemary Radford Ruether (v.1936) • Sallie McFague (b.1933) • The nature of sin • Pastoral theology • The person of Christ • The problem of the maleness of Christ

  12. Liberation theology • Latin America, 1960s and 1970s • CELAM II: Latin American Catholic bishops in Medellín, Columbia • Gustavo Gutiérrez (b.1928), Theology of Liberation • God is on the side of the poor and oppressed • Critical reflection on practice • Marxism • Biblical hermeneutics • Scripture as narrative of liberation • The nature of salvation • liberation and structural sin

  13. Black theology • Joseph Washington, Black Religion (1964) • Albert Cleage, Black Messiah (1968) • “Black Manifesto,” 1969 • James H. Cone (1938) • Black Theology of Liberation (1970)

  14. Postliberalism • Yale Divinity School, 1970s-80s • Alasdair MacIntyre (b.1929) • Anti-foundational • Communitarian • Historicist • George Lindbeck, Nature of Doctrine (1984) • Cultural-linguistic approach • Paul Holmer, Grammar of Faith (1978) • Systematic theology as descriptive discipline • Christian ethics: Stanley Hauerwas (b.1940)

  15. Radical orthodoxy • John Milbank, Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason (1993) • Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology (1999), edited by John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, and Graham Ward • Alternatives to modernism and postmodernism

  16. Case study 4.1 The quests of the historical Jesus • The original quest for the historical Jesus • Gulf between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith • Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768) • “On the Aims of Jesus and His Disciples” • The critique of the quest, 1890-1910 • Apocalyptic critique • Johannes Weiss, Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (1892) • Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965): thoroughgoing eschatology

  17. The skeptical critique • William Wrede (1859-1906) • Errors of liberal Protestant Christologies • Inconsistent method • Motives of the evangelists • Psychological approach • Dogmatic critique • Martin Kähler (1835-1912) • Christ as “supra-historical” • “the real Christ is the preached Christ”

  18. The retreat from history: Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) • “that” • Christ encountered in the kerygma • The new quest of the historical Jesus • Ernst Käsemann (1906-98) • Continuity between the preaching of Jesus (the historical Jesus) and preaching about Jesus (the Christ of faith) • The third quest • John Dominic Crossan • Marcus L. Borg • Burton L. Mack • E. P. Sanders • N. T. Wright

  19. Case study 4.2 The basis and nature of salvation • The relation between Christology (the person of Christ) and soteriology (the work of Christ) • Interpretations of the work of Christ • Sacrifice • The “threefold office” (prophet, priest, king) • Sacrifice as heroic self-giving • Thomas Chubb (1679-1747) • Joseph Butler (1692-1752) • Horace Bushnell, Vicarious Sacrifice (1866)

  20. Christus victor • Enlightenment: Rational skepticism of resurrection, existence of evil • GustafAulén, Christus Victor (1931) • Reality of evil in the world • Alternative to legal and subjective approaches • Legal approaches • Representation • Participation • Substitution • Enlightenment criticisms • P. T. Forsyth, The Justification of God (1916) • Karl Barth, “The Judge Judged in Our Place” • Exemplarist approaches • Value of the cross = impact on humanity • Moral example of Jesus as a human being • Cross as demonstration of God’s love

  21. The cross: constitutive or illustrative? • Constitutive: the cross makes salvation possible • Illustrative: the cross illustrates God’s saving will • The nature of salvation • Deification • Righteousness before God • Union with Christ • Moral perfection • Consciousness of God • Genuine humanity • Political liberation

  22. Case study 4.3 The debate over the resurrection • The Enlightenment: the resurrection as non-event • Skepticism toward miracles • Human autonomy • David Friedrich Strauss: the resurrection as myth • Rudolf Bultmann: the resurrection as an event in the experience of the disciples • Jesus Christ present in the kerygma • Karl Barth: the resurrection as a historical event beyond critical inquiry • WolfhartPannenberg: the resurrection as a historical event open to critical inquiry

  23. Case study 4.4 The Trinity in twentieth-century thought • F. D. E. Schleiermacher • Doctrine of the Trinity as “coping-stone” • Henry Barclay Swete (1835-1917) • Karl Barth • God’s self-revelation to sinful humanity • Revealedness • Karl Rahner • The economic and immanent Trinity • Robert Jenson • Father, Son, and Holy Spirit = God’s proper name

  24. Case study 4.5 Twentieth-century discussions of the doctrine of the church • “Wherever Christ is, there is also the Catholic Church” (Ignatius of Antioch) • Christ is present sacramentally • Catholic theologians • Christ is present through the Word • Karl Barth • Christ is present through the Spirit • Liberation theologian Leonardo Boff • Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas • Vatican II on the church • The church as communion • The church as the people of God • The church as a charismatic community

  25. Case study 4.6 Natural theology and the rationality of faith • The “two books of God”: nature and Scripture • William Paley, Natural Theology (1802) • God as watchmaker • Contrivance • John Henry Newman (1801-90) • Limitations of natural theology • Emil Brunner v. Karl Barth, 1934

  26. Case study 4.7 The feminist critique of traditional Christian theology • The “maleness” of God • The doctrine of the Trinity • Creator, redeemer, sustainer • A male Jesus of Nazareth • Traditional concepts of sin

  27. Case study 4.8 Christian approaches to other religions • Universal notion of religion? • Trinitarian approaches to other religions • RaimundoPanikkar (1918-2010) • Particularism (exclusivism) • Inclusivism • Fulfillment hypothesis • Karl Rahner: anonymous Christians • Parallelism • Pluralism • John Hick (1922-2012)

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