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Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, and Theological Method

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Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, and Theological Method Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Dissertations Graduate Research 2019 Toward Engaging the Secular: Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, and Theological Method Jenifer A. Daley Andrews University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Daley, Jenifer A., "Toward Engaging the Secular: Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, and Theological Method" (2019). Dissertations. 1690. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/1690 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT TOWARD ENGAGING THE SECULAR: CHARLES TAYLOR’S MODERN SOCIAL IMAGINARIES, HUMAN FLOURISHING, AND THEOLOGICAL METHOD by Jenifer A. Daley Adviser: Martin Hanna ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: TOWARD ENGAGING THE SECULAR: CHARLES TAYLOR’S MODERN SOCIAL IMAGINARIES, HUMAN FLOURISHING, AND THEOLOGICAL METHOD Name of researcher: Jenifer A. Daley Name and degree of faculty adviser: Martin Hanna, Ph.D. Date completed: January 2019 Increasing secularization seems to fly in the face of Christian proposals for a Scripture-only principle for theology. The question that this dissertation explores is “How will Christian theology tackle the resulting church-society impasse in a way that is both faithful to Scripture and intelligible contemporaneously without appearing to privilege one aspect over the other?” That is, “What form should theological method take to efficaciously engage the secular?” This study suggests that the answer might lie in an innovative fusion of Scripture with borrowed concepts from secular culture. Thus, this dissertation responds to the problem of the need for robust, multidimensional theological methodology that seeks to enhance engagement with secular philosophy and culture. In the wake of cultural shifts and secular dynamics, this dissertation draws from Charles Taylor’s articulation of modern social imaginaries and the accompanying theses of secularity. This study shows how, in Taylor’s view, secularists have derived their self- understanding and ethos of economic human flourishing by way of continual shifts and interactions in perceptions of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and theology (PAST). From this perspective, the dissertation demonstrates how the secular identity is entangled in economics (οἰκονόμος)—material aspects of human activity (wealth production). Methodologically, utilizing a four-pronged approach, this dissertation examines these important concepts: first, by reading through lenses of selected genealogical dynamics of modern social imaginaries; secondly, via the contours of Charles Taylor’s articulation of secularity; thirdly, via scriptural analyses of social imaginaries and human flourishing; and fourthly, by expanding their horizon of meaning by redeploying lessons, implications, and rereadings derived from applying a Spirit-directed Scripture-principle to propose a sketch of a multidimensional model toward secular engagement. The chapters of this dissertation extend secular considerations beyond a social science perspective to the biblical canon allowing the new biblical lens to broaden the term “human flourishing” from economics to a more wholistic conception and producing new understandings of PAST and οἰκονόμος. Connecting the conversation about secularity, social imaginaries, and human flourishing with ongoing discussions about theological method, and articulating for rereadings, the dissertation concludes by proposing a three-dimensional model—secular, canonical, and stewardship (οἰκονόμος)—that appears as a potentially powerful response toward secular engagement. These tentative findings enhance the study’s contributions: interdisciplinary, explicit multidimensionality, explicit application of human flourishing as key to secular engagement, and an explicitly practical aspect in the form of a reoriented theology of stewardship as one’s way of living in the world. By focusing on these complementary dimensions, the study seeks to create a sense of how they work together and how they produce a rich interdisciplinary reservoir which is key to a multidimensional strategy toward secular engagement. Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary TOWARD ENGAGING THE SECULAR: CHARLES TAYLOR’S MODERN SOCIAL IMAGINARIES, HUMAN FLOURISHING, AND THEOLOGICAL METHOD A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Jenifer A. Daley January 2019 © Copyright by Jenifer A. Daley 2019 All Rights Reserved TOWARD ENGAGING THE SECULAR: CHARLES TAYLOR’S MODERN SOCIAL IMAGINARIES, HUMAN FLOURISHING, AND THEOLOGICAL METHOD A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Jenifer A. Daley APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: Faculty Adviser, Martin Hanna Director of PhD/ThD Religion Program Associate Professor of Systematic Thomas Shepherd Theology John C. Peckham Dean, SDA Theological Seminary Professor of Theology and Christian Jiří Moskala Philosophy Cedric Vine Associate Professor of New Testament Ante Jerončić, Associate Professor of Ethics & Theology Millard J. Erickson Date Approved Professor of Theology Unaffiliated Scholar DEDICATION In loving memory of my father, Lascelles A. Daley (1944-1996) iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ix Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION. 1 Introduction: Theology and Social Imaginary . 1 Background and Context to the Problem. 3 Problem Statement . 12 Purpose Statement . 12 Justification Statement . 13 Conceptual Framework and Methodology. 17 Scope and Delimitations . 24 2. GENEALOGICAL DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL IMAGINARIES . 26 Introduction and Background . 26 Theoretical Considerations of Imagination .. 28 Social Imagination and Social Imaginary . 33 Benedict Anderson’s “Imagined Communities” . 35 Cornelius Castoriadis’s “Imaginary Institutions” .. 36 Pre-Modern Social Imaginaries . 40 Hebraic Social Imaginaries . 41 Greco-Roman Social Imaginaries . 47 Οἰκονόμος in Retrospect . 53 Summary of Pre-modern Social Imaginaries. 59 Modern (and Post-modern) Social Imaginaries. .. 60 Theoretical Considerations of Modern Social Imaginaries . 61 Theoretical Considerations of Postmodern Social Imaginaries . 63 Theology and Imagination . 66 Negative Imaginative Views . 69 Constructive Imaginative Views . 71 Gordon D. Kaufman’s “Theological Imagination” . 71 David Ray Griffin’s “Postmodern Theology”. 73 Reflective Imaginative Views . 75 George MacDonald’s “Baptized Imagination”. 76 C. S. Lewis’s Use of Imagination in Theology. .. 78 Positive Imaginative Views . 80 iv Garrett Green’s “Paradigmatic Imagination”. 81 Summary of Theological Imagination . 82 Concluding Remarks . 83 3. THEOLOGY AND SOCIAL IMAGINARY IN CHARLES TAYLOR . 87 Introduction and Background . 87 A Brief Comment on the Approach to Charles Taylor’s Secular Taxonomy . 89 Secular Taxonomy: Identification and Definition . 91 Secular Taxonomy: Overview of Modern Social Imaginaries . 95 Secular Taxonomy: Exclusive Humanism and Human Flourishing . 97 Latin Christendom to Modern West: Divine Telos to Human Flourishing . 102 Paradigmatic Philosophical and Sociological Shifts to Exclusive Humanism. 103 Paradigmatic Philosophical Shifts. 103 Paradigmatic Sociological Shifts . 105 Paradigmatic Theological Shifts to Exclusive Humanism . 107 Theological Eclipses, Anthropological Outcomes . 111 Paradigmatic Anthropological Shifts to Exclusive Humanism . 117 Conceptual and Practical Redeployments . 122 Charles Taylor’s ‘Social Imaginary’ in Retrospect. 123 Theology and Modern Social Imaginaries: Commendations. 123 Theology and Modern Social Imaginaries: Criticisms. 126 Summary. 130 Charles Taylor’s ‘Social Imaginary’ in Prospect . 131 Modern Social Imaginaries and Christian Theology: Methodological Issues. 131 A Way Forward . 134 Concluding Remarks . 136 4. THEOLOGY AND SOCIAL IMAGINARY IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL.. .. 139 Introduction and Background . 139 A Brief Comment on the Approach to Matthew’s Gospel for Rereading the Secular . 140 Social Imaginaries and the Gospel of Matthew. 142 Theological Imagination and The Sermon on the Mount . 144 The Rich Young Man Narrative as a Human Flourishing Narrative . 150 Human Flourishing Vocabulary as Soteriological Tensions: The Questions . 151 v Human Flourishing Vocabulary as Soteriological Tendenz . 152 Human Flourishing Vocabulary as Teleological Tensions: The Answers . 155 Narrative Patterns and Style . 157 Plot. 158 Characterization. 159 Settings . 162 Narrative Structure. 164 Social Imaginary: Law, Life, and Jesus . 166 Social Imaginary: Human Flourishing . 172 Social Imaginary, Savior Quest, and Human Flourishing . 176 Conceptual and Practical Redeployments . 181 Matthean Social Imaginaries and Christian Theology: Methodological Issues . 182 Matthew’s Image of ‘True’ Human Flourishing Invites a Particular Philosophy . 185 Matthew’s Image of ‘True’ Human Flourishing Invites a Particular Anthropology . 185 Matthew’s Image of ‘True’ Human Flourishing Invites a Particular Sociology . 187 Matthew’s Image of ‘True’ Human Flourishing Invites a Particular Theology . 188 A Way Forward. 189 Concluding Remarks . 191 5. TOWARD A MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL FOR ENGAGING THE SECULAR . 194 Introduction and Background . ..
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