WAITING AND BEING: CREATION, GRACE, AND AGENCY By JOSHUA DAVIS 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 J. Patout Burns Professor John J. Thatamanil Professor Ellen T. Armour i Copyright © 2010 by Joshua Davis All Rights Reserved ii FOR MY LOVE, DANIELLE iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the years during which this project was born, with friends and family, I have kept a running list of the various musicians, authors, poets, consumer products, television shows, and films that have served as either inspirations and/or necessary distractions on the long journey of completing a dissertation. Having reached my destination, though, I am aware of how supercilious it would be to include that list in light of the overwhelming number of people actually who deserve recognition in these pages. I offer my most enthusiastic gratitude to you all. First, I owe a profound debt to my dissertation committee. The influence of each of your work, teaching, counsel, and conversation is incalculable. Ellen Armour has not only been a continual (and too often unacknowledged) source of encouragement, but her insight and criticism have consistently made this a better work. Many of the constructive aspects of this dissertation took shape in courses and conversations with John Thatamanil. Were it not for continually wrestling with those several distinct points of convergence and divergence between us, this dissertation assuredly would not be what it is. Much of the architecture for this project was quietly worked out in seminars with Patout Burns on Augustine and Aquinas. He has been a titan of inspiration: a model of consummate scholarship and teaching, whose mark is on each page of this work—and especially where my own voice emerges most clearly. Finally, I am honored to say that this work was carried out under the direction of Paul DeHart. He has taught me to be an attentive reader and has stirred in me a desire for precision and excellence. For your iv patient dialogue during those countless hours that I showed up, unannounced, at your office door—thank you! Doug Meeks has always been a font of instruction, insight, guidance, and support. It is from him that I learned and continue to perceive the great value of being a theologian for the church, and I thank him for continually insisting that I wrestle with Jesus in my work. I am certain I have only just begun to recognize the significance of that. I have had a number of teachers through the years whom I would remiss not to acknowledge. From my time at Lipscomb, there are many. Were it not for Randy Harris, I am certain I would not be a theologian. Were it not for Richard Goode and Kim Reed, I am certain I would not have made it through Lipscomb. I thank the entire English Department at Lipscomb, but especially Linda Garner, Wayne Garrett, and Matt Hearn. And Lee Camp came along at just the right time. I would also like to thank Sid Fulford, Brian King, Tracy King, Kenny Barfield, Nancy Posey, and Rebecca Swinea. Each of you has been as a continual inspiration. Mary Nell Gonce once remarked that if any of her students won the Nobel Prize, she wanted to be invited to the ceremony. Recognition that the discipline she taught me helped me write this is the best I can do (for now)! My other teachers have been my colleagues and friends. The time I spent at Vanderbilt, as both a Master‘s and Doctoral student, would not have been nearly as significant were it not for camaraderie and arguments I shared with David Dunn, David Dault, Michael Gibson, Eric Froom, Burt Fulmer, Miles Mullin, Jimmy Barker, Virginia Bartlett, Sean Hayden, and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson. You have each left your mark on me and this work. Jodi Belcher, in particular, has made more than one comment and suggestion that has informed this work. The same is true of Craig Keen, who has become v a teacher and friend. I would especially like to thank the participants of the Graduate Theological Society, who originally heard and responded to portions of this work, and in conversation with whom many of these ideas took shape. The same is true of the monthly, theology area colloquies, hosted by Doug and Blair Meeks. Thanks are due to all the students in my Constructive Theology Colloquies, who constantly help me see with new eyes. Additionally, I owe a special note of gratitude to Aaron Simmons, whose untiring intellect is matched only by his indomitable spirit. He not only helped me to see value in Levinas when I was far too ready to set him aside, but he embodied the generosity he advocated. I would simply like to wish Brad ―Spray‖ Peper a happy birthday. Several of these friends deserve special mention. I am not simply a better theologian because of my friendship with Timothy Eberhart, but I am also a better person. Tim and I met very early during my time at Vanderbilt and he has been a steadfast and restorative presence since. The model of the pastor-theologian, Tim‘s sense of the integrity of the spiritual, material, and intellectual life is a constant reminder of the ethical urgency of discipleship, and has on more than one occasion served to chasten my propensity for detachment. And it is an honor to bring my Doctoral studies to a close at the same time as Travis Ables. The calm with which Travis conducts his work belies the passion with which he pursues it. That fact, along with the illumination he has brought me in innumerable conversations, displays a wisdom most appropriate for one specializing in pneumatology. Like Tim, I have known Nate Kerr from my first days at Vanderbilt. Since that time, he has gone from being a most challenging interlocutor to a most abiding friend. vi He has, even when pressed for time, graciously read and commented on portions of this manuscript and, as in all things, made it better. Because of Nate my thinking has become more expansive and been honed in ways I never could have imagined. It has been a pleasure to see his work receive the attention it deserves, and I am honored to call him my friend. Dave Belcher‘s insight and tenacity are simply acrobatic. The debt I owe him for the hours spent reading, commenting on, and discussing this manuscript far exceed any gratitude I could offer. His encouragement, in particular, was invaluable on more than one occasion of my writing. Would there were more like him, with spirits as vast their minds. A number of friends in Nashville have seen me through my time at Vanderbilt. Julie Wall, the godmother of our son, was an unanticipated companion for our family. Her fierce loyalty and ceaseless generosity are treasured. Banks Lyons has been there from the beginning, laughing with me. I cannot imagine having survived this without the time spent at the MORBT. Their hospitality was legendary. Russ Neighbors is unfailing. Madison Stubblefield‘s rejuvenating and peaceful presence and Paul Young‘s humor and encouragement are bedrocks. I miss you both. Ray Sharpe‘s enthusiastic support for me is unparalleled and humbling. Landon Stubblefield is my brother. He has been since we first met and he always will be. I am grateful for the steadfast and unwavering love of my mother, Pamela Davis, whose strength, devotion, and purity of heart always triumphed when mine failed. That has made all the difference. My grandmother, Leola Lester, has been always been our vii taproot and continues to be. It is good to make my father proud, and I pray that his curiosity about the world is passed on to my own son. My mother-in-law, Barbara Thompson, has received me as one of her own. And the phone calls in the middle of the day from my father-in-law, Steve Thompson, were more encouragement than you know. I love you both. Special thanks are due to the seminary community of the School of Theology at Sewanee. They received Danielle and me with open arms, and rejoiced with us at the birth of our son. The common life of prayer we have shared has deeply formed our family, and I am happy to have brought this project to a close with them. To Joshua‘s teachers at PMO and our neighbors in the Woodlands, this dissertation, literally, would not have been completed without you. I am also grateful to the Department of Religion for giving me the opportunity to teach, as a Visiting Instructor, during the Easter semester. My son, Joshua Daniel, was born as I was completing this work. Already, he has taught me much about the meaning of attention that sits at its heart, and I will learn all the more now that it is complete. Joshua was born during Advent and baptized on Easter Vigil, the weekend before this dissertation was defended—a fitting symbol of the great blessing he has been to our entire family. Finally, I offer this work to my wife, Danielle. It is a paltry gift to present to one who has given so much of herself to make this work possible. But it is yours, as am I. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... iv Chapter I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................1 The Unity of Creation and Grace as a Doctrinal Problem .......................................2 Concerns in Roman Catholic Theology ..............................................................2 Neo-Scholasticism .........................................................................................5 The New Theology