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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ETD - Electronic Theses & Dissertations A PNEUMATOLOGY OF CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE: THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE MYSTERY OF GOD IN AUGUSTINE AND BARTH By Travis E. Ables Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Religion May, 2010 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Paul J. DeHart Professor Ellen T. Armour Professor J. Patout Burns Professor John J. Thatamanil Copyright © 2010 by Travis E. Ables All Rights Reserved TO HOLLY iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks are due, first of all, to the members of my dissertation committee, each of whom had a significant impact on my thinking and work. Ellen Armour could always be depended upon for a fascinating and incisive perspective. The idea for this dissertation first took shape in a seminar on Augustine with Patout Burns, whose unparalleled expertise in the great bishop’s theology constantly spurred me on to greater precision and care. My relationship with John Thatamanil was one of the cornerstones of my time in graduate school. John has been a true mentor, and I thank him for his always generous support and advice. Paul DeHart, who directed this dissertation, accepts nothing less than excellence, and I have learned from him, more than anything, to be a careful and sympathetic reader and interlocutor. His encouragement and confidence in this project has been invaluable. There are of course many other professors who had a major part in shaping my thought. I’d especially like to thank Doug Meeks, who was a constant supporter of my work and a significant help in my wrestling with Barth. Aaron Simmons, both professor and friend, taught me my Levinas, and has been a source of great encouragement and insightful feedback. In seminary, Kevin Vanhoozer and Steven Roy were tremendous mentors; it was in a directed study with Kevin that the seeds for this project first germinated. David Stone: I owe you more than I can express. Thank you for taking me under your wing at a very perilous time in my intellectual and spiritual development. I would like to thank the Graduate School at Vanderbilt University for a University Fellowship, and a Howard Stirling Graduate Scholarship, which provided iv funding for my doctoral education. Those who navigate the graduate school process quickly learn the value of knowing an administrator who is well-informed and helpful, and Marie McEntire was always a capable and friendly guide in the labyrinth. My weekly discussions sessions with Constructive Theology students were, without exception, the highlight of the semesters I spent as a teaching assistant. The kindness, compassion, energy and fierce idealism of Vanderbilt Divinity students is humbling and invigorating. Friends in Nashville and beyond all had a hand in this work: Jason Fout, Devin Singh and David Belcher in particular deserve mention. The congregation at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church – especially Hank and Lauren Cardwell – has been a source of great comfort. Jarod and Courtney, and all the good people at Ugly Mugs, are due my sincere thanks for providing a place to write for the price of a (superb) cup of coffee. Tyler Wigg-Stevenson has been a good friend and always offered an inspiring example in his work for the Two Futures Project. Thunder and Emily Jones, godparents to our daughter, have been our best friends while in Nashville. Without them, our lives the past five years are simply unimaginable. I learned the most from my colleagues in the doctoral theology program at Vanderbilt. I cannot speak to how much each of the following people impacted my theological training, so I will simply name them and hope they know how much their conversation and friendship meant to me: Michael Gibson, David Dunn, David Dault, Nate Kerr, Sean Hayden and Tim Eberhart. The short-lived Graduate Theological Society was one of the great transformative experiences of my academic life, even as the group who composed it had the wisdom to move on when it had served its purpose. The v Theology Area colloquy, generously hosted by Douglas and Blair Meeks, was likewise a tremendous opportunity for collegial inquiry. The reasons why this dissertation ends with an evocation of friendship are many, but I must mention three. Joshua Davis has been, from my very first days at Vanderbilt, a steadfast conversation partner. Few people have so powerfully impacted my thought, and the amount of profound theological work done in conversation and by email with Josh is simply inexpressible. I cannot think of someone whose intelligence and originality I rate higher. I knew Natalie Wigg-Stevenson would be a great friend from the moment I met her; but I could not anticipate how important that friendship would be. Natalie was the first person to (voluntarily!) read this dissertation, and offered invaluable feedback over countless hours of coffee. Her creativity and generosity of spirit always pushed me to a renewed excitement for the venture of theology. We are fortunate to find a few friends who truly shape us in life; I found two just at the right time. Thank you both. Holly is not only my wife; she is my best friend. In every step of our journey together, she has been my tireless comforter and supporter, and my sure partner. It is not just that she has sacrificed for the sake of my graduate education – though she has, and that deeply; even more, she has been the one with whom I’ve built a life of companionship, and I cannot imagine any other life than the one we have together. Ours is the marvel and grace of a love that has grown stronger through every trial. When Holly faced such a trial recently, the strength and courage with which she did so was truly humbling. Our daughter Claire was born midway through my doctoral studies, and nothing could have been a greater gift. As I write this, I’m looking at her smile, and my heart is breaking from the beauty of it. So, to my girls: I love you. Thank you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………….ix CHAPTER I. AUGUSTINE, BARTH AND THE PROBLEM OF GEISTESVERGESSENHEIT IN CONTEMPORARY TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY ...... 1 Theological Realism and Idealism: Some Patterns of Critique ...................................... 2 Rahner and the Pseudo-Régnon Paradigm: Historicizing the Revival ......................... 23 The Aporetic of Pneumatology in Augustine and Barth ............................................... 37 CHAPTER II. A PNEUMATOLOGY OF CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE: THE APORETIC OF PERFORMANCE AND ASCENT IN DE TRINITATE ........................ 44 Training the Reader: The Performance of the Imago Dei in De Trinitate .................... 49 The Simplicity of Wisdom: Trinitarian Faith in Books 2-7 .......................................... 58 Alienation and Union: Embodied Knowing in Books 8-12 .......................................... 72 The Pneumatological Aporia of The Image: Books 13-15 ........................................... 83 CHAPTER III. THE APOPHATICISM OF ETHICAL PERFORMANCE: SIMPLICITY, RELATION AND DEIFICATION IN AUGUSTINE ................................................... 100 The Totus Christus and the Love of God and Neighbor ............................................. 103 “The Madness of Economic Reason:” For a Trinitarianism without Difference ........ 116 Augustine’s Apophaticism of Ethical Performance .................................................... 133 CHAPTER IV. CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE AS ELECTION: BARTH’S DIALECTICAL PNEUMATOLOGY OF PARTICIPATION ...................................... 142 The Problem Of Human Participation In Reconciliation ............................................ 145 CD 1 & 2: Christian Knowledge As Election ............................................................. 155 CD 3: Barth’s “Brazen Identification” and the Analogia Relationis .......................... 181 CHAPTER V. THE HYPOSTATIC UNION AND THE VICISSITUDES OF AUGUSTINIAN TRINITARIANISM IN CD 4 ............................................................ 191 The Ambiguity of Urgeschichte in Barth’s Christology ............................................. 192 CD 4/2 & 4/3: The Communicatio Idiomatum and the Pneumatological Übergang .. 201 Schicksal und Idee: The Evasion of the Barthian Pneumatological Dialectic ............ 221 The Mystery Of Gratuity: Barth’s Ethical Eternity .................................................... 237 vii CHAPTER VI. THE PROBLEM OF TRINITARIAN ONTOLOGY AND THE ETHICS OF GRATUITY AFTER HEGEL .................................................................................. 248 Augustine and Barth on a Pneumatology of Christian Knowledge ............................ 250 Hegel: The Problem of Conceptual Mediation in Contemporary Trinitarianism ....... 269 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 294 viii ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations for Augustine’s works are those used in Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed. Allan D. Fitzgerald, OSA, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999). bapt. – De baptismo civ. Dei. – De civitate Dei conf. - Confessiones doc. Chr. – De doctrina Christiana en. Ps. – Enarrationes in Psalmos ep. (epp.) – Epistulae ep. Jo. – In epistulam Joannis ad Parthos tractatus retr. - Retractationes s. – Sermones sol. – Soliloquia Trin. – De Trinitate vera rel.
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