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Wolfhart Pannenberg

Wolfhart Pannenberg. Partial Replacement Model or Protestant Fulfillment Model. Important Distinctives. Pursuit of Truth as the Main Goal of Doing Theology Theology as Public Discipline Rational Truth and Coherence with Universal Orientation

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Wolfhart Pannenberg

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  1. Wolfhart Pannenberg Partial Replacement Model or Protestant Fulfillment Model

  2. Important Distinctives • Pursuit of Truth as the Main Goal of Doing Theology • Theology as Public Discipline • Rational Truth and Coherence with Universal Orientation • “For a ‘truth’ that would be simply my truth and would not at least claim to be universal and valid for every human being could not remain true even for me. This consideration explains why Christians cannot but try to defend the claim of their faith to be true.”

  3. Important Distinctives • Quest for Universal Truth • Eschatology as the Final Verdict of Truth • Christ’s Resurrection as the “Prolepsis” • The Trinitarian God as the All-determining Reality • Trinitarian pneumatology • The History of Religions is the arena for competition between gods • Only at eschaton does the God of the Bible show himself to the only True God

  4. Important Distinctives • History as the Means and Arena of Revelation • Appeal to “universal” or “secular” history rather than Salvation History

  5. Interfaith Dialogue • Criticism of Pluralistic Approaches • Dismissal of history, pursuit of truth, centrality of Christ/Triune God, etc. • Dialogue entails honoring of convictions and differences • Participants come to the dialogue table to argue for the supremacy of their own view with an intention to convince the other party • Dialogue can become a “testing” place of various claims in the common search for the truth

  6. Salvation • Similarly to Roman Catholic Fulfillment Model, strong Christocentrism and Trinitarian faith • Salvation to Christians is available only through faith in Christ • Those who have never heard of Christ will be judged according to their relation – orientation – to Christ and his teaching • Christ’s descent to hell

  7. Contributions • Seeking to Claim Religious Truth as Rational and Public Truth • Value of Religions and History of Religions • Trying to Take the Claims of the Religions at Face Value • Openness to Mutual Modification and Enrichment in Dialogue: • Uniqueness of Christian Faith, yet openness to the value of religions and possibility of salvation • Ecumenism and theology of religions

  8. Questions and Challenges • Biblical Considerations • Universalist Tendencies? • [Since] the Christian claim aims at the finality of revelation as well as of salvation, . . . it also includes a tendency towards “universal salvation.” • Naïve about the nature of dialogue? • Excessive focus on quest for truth as the theme of interfaith dialogue could prove an obstacle • Faith not just about intellectual conviction • Overemphasis on rationality? • What about the mystical? • Are all religions committed to the same kind of concept of truth? • For example, not all religions value historicity as a criterion of truth • Quest for unified truth called into question by many today, including postmoderns

  9. Lesslie Newbigin Missional Response to Religious Pluralism in the West and Beyond

  10. Lesslie Newbigin: Introduction • 1909-1998 • 40 years in India as Bishop of the Church of South India • Secretary of International Missionary Council of WCC (1959-1965) • A Leading Critique of Modernity and theologian of missionary church

  11. Lesslie Newbigin: Main Works • Gospel in a Pluralist Society (1989) • The Open Secret (1978; rev. ed.1995) • Foolishness to the Greeks (1986) • Proper Confidence (1995) • Truth to Tell (1996)

  12. I Critique of the Culture of Modernity Newbigin believes that the main problem of Christian Church and its lack of missional response is the overwhelming effects of the Enlightenment

  13. Faith and Knowledge Relationship • St. Augustine’s Heritage: Faith and Knowledge were joined together • After Augustine: Faith and Knowledge were separated • With the Enlightenment, Faith and Knowledge became exclusive of each other • Knowledge became independent of faith

  14. Enlightenment’s Skepticism • Enlightenment’s basic ideas, detrimental to theology are: • Doubt as the beginning of “knowledge” and certainty (Descartes) • The Idea of “neutral,” non-committed knowledge

  15. “The Fatal Dualism of Enlightenment” • When Faith and Reason were Separated, human reasonwas made the foundation of sure knowledge • The ideal of an “objective” knowledge without any “subjective” element is the key feature of modernist epistemology • Separation between • public knowledge (science) • personal opinion (religion, ethics)

  16. IIThe Failure of Christian Church and Theology to Encounter Modern Culture Newbigin’s key criticism is that the Church has utterly failed in its relationship with Modernity’s Culture

  17. Marginalization of Faith • Christian Church has retreated to a private sphere and left public sphere to secular science, politics, philosophy, etc. • Church tries to influence choices in private area • Gospel is not presented as a claim to public area • Values are private choices, not facts

  18. Marginalization of Faith: PIETISM • Ironically, Pietism reflects the same kind of privatization of religion • The value of pietism as a call to personal commitment is affirmed by Newbigin • Yet, it reflects a “Hindu-type a-historicism”

  19. III Newbigin’s Missional Theology From Accomodation to a Genuinely Missionary Encounter

  20. Missionary Encounter: Two Tasks • DE-CONSTRUCTIVE TASK • To question the beliefs of modern culture and call for the repentance of MIND • CONSTRUCTIVE TASK • To offer a new fiduciary framework, a new “Christian” worldview

  21. A Missionary Encounter:DECONSTRUCTION • The Gospel is presented as a challenger not only to spiritual needs but to the worldview as a whole • The “conversion of the mind” relates to the Gospel as THE PUBLIC TRUTH

  22. “Personal Knowledge” and “Universal Intention” • “Personal Knowledge” • From philosopher-scientist: M. Polanyi • Knowing means COMMITMENT, “personal” involvement • There is no “neutral”, non-committed knowledge even in science

  23. “Personal Knowledge” and “Universal Intention” • “Universal intention” • While personal, all true knowledge is to be published and thus subjected to dialogue and critique • It is not only my opinion but claims to point to the truth that is “universal”

  24. The Importance of Community and Tradition • Importance of Community • community passes on the tradition • cf. Islam and Asian religions: communal faiths whereas Western modernism is individualistic • Newbigin compares theology to scientific work: even science works within and from a tradition • “apprenticeship” into the tradition • Indwelling the tradition, in this case Christian biblical narrative and worldview • cf. Islam and Asian religions

  25. Importance of Tradition cont. Acknowledging the authority appropriate to the tradition • yet in a critical way • cf. Islam and Asian religions: uncritical way What makes Christian tradition unique is the authority of Revelation • God’s self-revelation as the Gospel NARRATIVE • As received by the church/community who seeks to understand and interpret it

  26. “The Gospel as Public Truth”The Heart of Newbigin’s program • The Church is called to present the Gospel as Public Truth • In humble, yet confident spirit • Church is not the “possessor” but rather carrier of the Truth of the Gospel • constantly testifying to and seeking for a fuller understanding of truth • in confidence and humility (Proper Confidence) • cf. Crusade-mentality (either Christian or Muslim)

  27. This makes the church missionary church • The Church expresses the universal intention of the Gospel by proclaiming the Gospel with claim to all people and all reality • By doing so, the Church publishes its “personal knowledge” and commitment to the truth in Christ

  28. “Logic of Mission” • An implication from the idea of the Gospel as Public Truth • The universal intention of the truth claim in Jesus by its own power makes Christian faith a missionary faith • Commitment to mission is the test of the commitment of Christian Church to its own truth claims

  29. Church and Mission Belong Together:The Church as Mission • The Church that does not engage in mission – publishing the truth claims of the Gospel – does not indeed believe in the Gospel • And this is, of course, the basic dilemma of so much of Western Christianity, as well as theology in general and ecclesiology in particular • Church and mission have been divorced from each other

  30. Reflections on the Partial Replacement Model • This model may come closest to negotiating the most foundational biblical dynamic between, on the one hand, the uniqueness of Christ (Acts 4:12) and the universal saving love of God (1 Tim 4:2) • It helps preserve the uniqueness of Christian faith while trying to find ways of appreciating other religions and their search for the truth

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