DOCSLIB.ORG

METAPHYSICIANS of MODERNITY: COLIN GUNTON and GEORGE P. GRANT CONFRONT the ZEITGEIST by Arthur Gregory Daggett Th.B., Kingswoo

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
METAPHYSICIANS of MODERNITY: COLIN GUNTON and GEORGE P. GRANT CONFRONT the ZEITGEIST by Arthur Gregory Daggett Th.B., Kingswoo METAPHYSICIANS OF MODERNITY: COLIN GUNTON AND GEORGE P. GRANT CONFRONT THE ZEITGEIST By Arthur Gregory Daggett Th.B., Kingswood University, 2010 Submitted to the Faculty of Theology at Acadia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Theology) Acadia University Spring Convocation 2013 © 2013 Arthur Gregory Daggett This thesis by ARTHUR GREGORY DAGGETT was defended successfully in an oral examination on 3 April 2013. The examining committee for the thesis was: Dr. Jody Linkletter, Chair Dr. James Perkin, External Examiner Dr. Carol Anne Janzen, Internal Examiner Dr. William Brackney, Supervisor Dr. Craig Evans, MA Director This thesis is accepted in its present form by Acadia Divinity College, the Faculty of Theology of Acadia University, as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Theology). ii I, ARTHUR GREGORY DAGGETT, hereby grant permission to the University Librarian at Acadia University to provide copies of my thesis, upon request, on a non- profit basis. Arthur Gregory Daggett Author Dr. William Brackney Supervisor 3 April 2013 Date iii Acknowledgements While I take credit as the author, I do not consider this project a solitary endeavor. Friends, family members, and colleagues who contributed in some way are too numerous to mention, but I would like to acknowledge several people for their help in making this thesis a reality. Dr. Kennth Gavel’s mentorship during my first few years as a student of theology helped lay the foundation for this work, for which I am forever grateful. Blaine Hanna has been a great friend and conversation partner, tolerating my late-night rants through many years of study together. Dr. William Brackney’s supervision of this thesis has challenged me academically, helping me transition from an observer to a participant in the historic conversation which is theology. Aside from his supervision, Dr. Brackney has been a great professor, friend, and has modeled the life of a pastor/scholar. To my wife Alexandra and my daughter Sophia - I love you both very much. I look forward to our life together, and to our ongoing experiments in truth. You are God’s greatest blessings to me. iv Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCING COLIN GUNTON: LIFE, CONTEXT, AND THEOLOGICAL PROJECT ..................... 3 I - LIFE AND CONTEXT ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Theology ‘After Barth’ ............................................................................................................................ 4 th Theology in 20 -Century Britain ............................................................................................................ 8 II - GUNTON’S TRINITARIAN THEOLOGICAL PROJECT ............................................................................................. 11 Gunton’s Trinitarian Theology ............................................................................................................. 11 Gunton’s Pneumatology ...................................................................................................................... 16 What Does the Eschatological “Perfecting Cause” Look Like? ............................................................. 38 SUMMARY.................................................................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 2: COLIN GUNTON’S CONCEPTION AND CRITIQUE OF MODERNITY ......................................... 43 I - WHAT IS MODERNITY? ............................................................................................................................... 43 II – GUNTON’S CONCEPTION AND CRITIQUE OF MODERNITY .................................................................................. 54 Is Gunton’s Critique of Augustine Valid? .............................................................................................. 54 Gunton’s Critique of Modernity ........................................................................................................... 59 SUMMARY.................................................................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 3: GEORGE GRANT: HIS LIFE, CONTEXT AND THOUGHT ON TECHNOLOGY .............................. 69 I – GEORGE GRANT’S LIFE AND CONTEXT ........................................................................................................... 70 II – GRANT’S THOUGHT ON TECHNOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 78 “The Perfection of God” – Grant’s Controversial Definition of Philosophy .......................................... 78 Grant’s Thought on Technology ........................................................................................................... 81 Heidegger’s Influence on Grant ........................................................................................................... 86 Thinking about Technology – ‘The Computer does not impose on us…’ .............................................. 93 Myth, Freedom and the Fact/Value Distinction ................................................................................... 95 The Ontology of Technology and University Education ....................................................................... 98 SUMMARY.................................................................................................................................................. 104 CHAPTER 4 – CONCLUSION: METAPHYSICIANS OF MODERNITY: GUNTON’S AND GRANT’S DIAGNOSES & REMEDIES ............................................................................................................................................ 105 Convergences ..................................................................................................................................... 105 Divergences ........................................................................................................................................ 109 A Synthesis? ....................................................................................................................................... 112 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................... 114 Introduction This thesis grew out of coursework in the Master of Arts in Theology program at Acadia Divinity College. Margaret Somerville’s The Ethical Imagination, a textbook, helped alert me to the problems arising in an increasingly technological world, and in seeking guidance on issues surrounding technology I encountered the work of George P. Grant (1918-1988), a Canadian public intellectual who taught at Dalhousie and McMaster Universities for most of his academic career. For the Introduction to Theology course I wrote a paper and made a presentation on Colin Gunton (1941-2003), a British theologian and pastor who sought to separate the proverbial “wheat from the chaff” in modern thought and life, as well as prescribing a theological remedy for problems created by certain weaknesses of modern thought. While these two thinkers come from very different backgrounds and enjoyed academic careers on different continents, they shared many common concerns, even though their approaches and responses to modernity were varied. This thesis explores the life and thought of Colin Gunton (1941-2003) and George Parkin Grant (1918-1988), and is a comparison of Colin Gunton’s and George P. Grant’s conceptions of modernity, their critiques of modernity, and their remedies for the problems of modernity. Chapter one outlines Colin Gunton’s life and context, and explores his Trinitarian theological project with special attention given to his doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Chapter two explores the question ‘What is Modernity?’, then explains Colin Gunton’s conception and critique of modernity. Chapter three outlines George P. Grant’s life, his conception and critique of modernity, and his remedy for its problems. Chapter four compares their conceptions, critiques and remedies for modernity, 1 highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses in their respective treatments, and suggests a constructive synthesis of their work. 2 Chapter 1 - Introducing Colin Gunton: Life, Context, and Theological Project This chapter will introduce Colin Gunton in context. He was a British theologian who worked ‘after Barth’, and was part of a late twentieth century movement spanning all major branches of the Christian church which emphasized the centrality of the Trinity in theological discourse and methodology. A prominent element of Gunton’s Trinitarian project was his pneumatology which is addressed below. Much of Gunton’s work can be understood as a response to the crises of modernity, and Gunton’s understanding and critique of the historical era of modernity is the focus of chapter two. I - Life and Context Colin Gunton (1941-2003) studied Classics1 at Hertford College, Oxford, and theology at Mansfield College, Oxford, followed by doctoral studies under the supervision of the Lutheran theologian Robert Jenson.2 His thesis was on the doctrine of God in the works of Charles Hartshorne and Karl Barth.3 He taught philosophy
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ocean to Ocean G
    OCEAN TO OCEAN G. M. Grant's 'roundunvarnisk'd tale' David Jackel GIEORGE MONRO GRANT'S Ocean to Ocean has often been described as a classic Canadian travel book, and rightly so. Few other works of its kind retain their appeal three generations after publication, when the novelty of the experiences described has long dissipated and the writer himself has long ceased to be a figure in the popular mind. Grant still speaks to us, more than a hundred years after his journey, and his book would, I think, stand comparison with such non-Canadian classics of the genre as Defoe's Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain and Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Such a comparison is not, however, my purpose here. Although Grant's Ocean to Ocean is, indeed, a masterful travel narrative, it is also much more than that, and just how much more does not seem to have been recognized. In the revised Literary History of Canada R. G. Moyles does make brief reference to Grant's "narrative stances" and proposes that we view the book as a "combination of adventure- story and mythic chronicle."1 These comments are suggestive, but they do not go nearly far enough to explain either the significance of Grant's ideas or his artistry in expressing them. The word artistry I choose deliberately, because a literary analysis of Ocean to Ocean reveals that Grant has, notwithstanding his disclaimers, done more than simply forward to the printer the notes hastily taken during his transcontinental journey.
    [Show full text]
  • By Anne Millar
    Wartime Training at Canadian Universities during the Second World War Anne Millar Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate of Philosophy degree in history Department of History Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Anne Millar, Ottawa, Canada, 2015 ii Abstract This dissertation provides an account of the contributions of Canadian universities to the Second World War. It examines the deliberations and negotiations of university, government, and military officials on how best to utilize and direct the resources of Canadian institutions of higher learning towards the prosecution of the war and postwar reconstruction. During the Second World War, university leaders worked with the Dominion Government and high-ranking military officials to establish comprehensive training programs on campuses across the country. These programs were designed to produce service personnel, provide skilled labour for essential war and civilian industries, impart specialized and technical knowledge to enlisted service members, and educate returning veterans. University administrators actively participated in the formation and expansion of these training initiatives and lobbied the government for adequate funding to ensure the success of their efforts. This study shows that university heads, deans, and prominent faculty members eagerly collaborated with both the government and the military to ensure that their institutions’ material and human resources were best directed in support of the war effort and that, in contrast to the First World War, skilled graduates would not be heedlessly wasted. At the center of these negotiations was the National Conference of Canadian Universities, a body consisting of heads of universities and colleges from across the country.
    [Show full text]
  • The National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion
    College Theology Society The Human in a Dehumanizing World: Re-Examining Theological Anthropology and Its Implications Sixty-Seventh Annual Convention in conjunction with The National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion Thursday, June 3 – Saturday, June 5, 2021 **ALL TIMES CENTRAL** Thursday Evening Opening 6:00-6:45pm (CDT) Online Auditorium Welcome, Business Meeting, Award Presentations Mary Doak University of San Diego (CA) President, College Theology Society Thursday Plenary 7:00-8:30pm (CDT) Online Auditorium ID: Convention Co-Chair and Session Moderator Jessica Coblentz, Saint Mary’s College (IN) Love for the Annihilated: A Black Theological Reading of Angela’s Memorial Memorial Andrew L. Prevot Boston College Andrew L. Prevot is an associate professor in the Department of Theology at Boston College. His research interests include: prayer, spirituality, and mystical theology; political, liberation, and black theology; phenomenology and continental philosophy of religion; and Catholic systematic and fundamental theology. He is the author of Thinking Prayer: Theology and Spirituality Amid the Crises of Modernity (Notre Dame Press, 2015), and a number of article and book chapters in the fields of liberation theology, political theology, and philosophical theology. Dr Prevot’s address belongs to a burgeoning field of scholarship that addresses current social issues by drawing on Christian mystical sources. In particular, it argues that Angela of Foligno's struggle with an inner sense of personal nothingness resembles the psychological burdens of many suffering under anti-blackness and other dehumanizing regimes. It further contends that God's loving response to Angela points to the sort of love that is needed to address such injustices.
    [Show full text]
  • In This Document an Attempt Is Made to Present an Introduction to Adult Board. Reviews the Entire Field of Adult Education. Also
    rn DOCUMENT RESUME ED 024 875 AC 002 984 By-Kidd. J. R., Ed Adult Education in Canada. Canadian Association for Adult Education, Toronto (Ontario). Pub Date SO Note- 262p. EDRS Price MF-$1.00 HC-$13.20 Descriptors- *Adult Education Programs. *Adult Leaders, Armed Forces, Bibliographies, BroadcastIndustry, Consumer Education, Educational Radio, Educational Trends, Libraries, ProfessionalAssociations, Program Descriptions, Public Schools. Rural Areas, Universities, Urban Areas Identifier s- *Canada Inthis document an attempt is made to present an introduction toadult education in Canada. The first section surveys the historical background, attemptsto show what have been the objectives of this field, and tries to assessits present position. Section IL which focuses on the relationship amongthe Canadian Association for Adult Education, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and theNational Film Board. reviews the entirefield of adult education. Also covered are university extension services. the People's Library of Nova Scotia,and the roles of schools and specialized organizations. Section III deals1 in some detail, with selected programs the 'Uncommon Schools' which include Frontier College, and BanffSchool of Fine Arts, and the School .of Community Programs. The founders, sponsors, participants,and techniques of Farm Forum are reported in the section on radio andfilms, which examines the origins1 iDurpose, and background for discussionfor Citizens' Forum. the use of documentary films inadult education; Women's Institutes; rural programs such as the Antigonish Movement and theCommunity Life Training Institute. A bibliography of Canadian writing on adult education is included. (n1) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVEDFROM THE i PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY.
    [Show full text]
  • Creation and God As One, Creator, and Trinity in Early Theology Through Augustine and Its Theological Fruitfulness in the 21St Century
    Creation and God as One, Creator, and Trinity in Early Theology through Augustine and Its Theological Fruitfulness in the 21st Century Submitted by Jane Ellingwood to the University of Exeter as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology in September 2015 This dissertation is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the dissertation may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this dissertation which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: _________Jane Ellingwood _________________________ 2 Abstract My primary argument in this thesis is that creation theologies significantly influenced early developments in the doctrine of the Trinity, especially in Augustine of Hippo’s theology. Thus this is a work of historical theology, but I conclude with proposals for how Augustine’s theologies of creation and the Trinity can be read fruitfully with modern theology. I critically analyse developments in trinitarian theologies in light of ideas that were held about creation. These include the doctrine of creation ‘out of nothing’ and ideas about other creative acts (e.g., forming or fashioning things). Irenaeus and other early theologians posited roles for God (the Father), the Word / Son, the Spirit, or Wisdom in creative acts without working out formal views on economic trinitarian acts. During the fourth century trinitarian controversies, creation ‘out of nothing’ and ideas about ‘modes of origin’ influenced thinking on consubstantiality and relations within the Trinity.
    [Show full text]
  • Co Nteberatton Lite Ne S N. HEAD OFFICE, - TORONTO
    o = Q . *.i- WsV 0A rtti. •t.^9Er,;l^ , C^ ^ d ^ Pamphlets. ... Th: lonfcderatlon Life association pvblicl- " an intere ^n.- set of pamphlets, giving full particulars as to its diff rent plans of file inrutance and will he pleased to send tlem on al•rlication to the tlead Office, "Cmronto, or to an% of t! e.l.sociation's A;ents. THE UNCONOITiONAI ACCUMULATIVE POLICY IS ABSOLUTELV FFEC FROM CONDITIONS FROM DATE OF I-SUE. i'1 i:-.1 Co nteberatton lite ne s n. HEAD OFFICE, - TORONTO. FRANK STRANGE, CITY AGENT, 98 CLARENCE STREET, KINGSTON. The Queen City Fire Insurance Company. ESTABLISHED 1871. W. J. MOORE, Head Office : Queen City Chambers, Church St., Toronto. DIRECTORS: HUGH SCOTT, President. THOS. WALNISLEY. Vice-President. MON. JUSTICE MACLENNAN. .1K/tIN D. CHIPMAN. J. G. SCOTT. Master of Titles. MACHINIST, Ratio of Surplus Assets Alone to Amount at Risk 3.58 Per Cent. FIV3INK STIANGE, Agent. 18 iYlontreal St. (Corner Princess St) Kingston, THE HAND-IN-HAND INSURANCE CO., MANUFACTURER AND REPAIRER OF FIRE AND PLATE GLASS. FOUNDED 1673 Head Office: 32 Church Street, Toronto. L. N. SMITH, Q.C., D.C.L., Pre•Ident. SCOTT & WALMSLEY, Unders rite,. and Managcr. JOS. WALMSLEY, Assistant Secretary. LOSSES EQUITABLY ADJUSTED AND PROMPTLY PAID. F. J. GEOR(;E, Agent. The Millers' 8z Manufacturers' Insurance Co. ESTABLISHED 1885. Head Office: 32 Church St., Toronto. BICYCLES JAMES GOLDIE. President. J. L. SPINK, Vice-President. THOS. VVALMSLEY, Tr aa 4 aa er.. HUGH SCOTT, Manner and Se ADAM AUSTIN. Impector. A General Stock of Bicycle Supplies Kept on Hand.
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Theology Edited by Ian A
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-41496-9 - The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology Edited by Ian A. McFarland, David A. S. Fergusson, Karen Kilby, Iain R. Torrance Frontmatter More information the cambridge dictionary of Christian Theology With over 550 entries ranging from ‘Abba’ to ‘Zwingli’ composed by leading contemporary theologians from around the world, The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology represents a fresh, ecumenical approach to theological refer- ence. Written with an emphasis on clarity and concision, all entries are designed to help the reader understand and assess the specifically theological significance of the most important concepts. Clearly structured, the volume is organized around a small number of ‘core entries’ which focus on key topics to provide a general overview of major subject areas, while making use of related shorter entries to impart a more detailed knowledge of technical terms. The work as a whole provides an introduction to the defining topics in Christian thought and is an essential reference point for students and scholars. ian a. mcfarland is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Emory University. His publications include Difference and Identity: A Theological Anthro- pology (2001) and The Divine Image: Envisioning the Invisible God (2005). davida.s.fergussonis Professor of Divinity and Principal of New College at the University of Edinburgh. His recent publications include Church, State and Civil Society (Cambridge, 2004) and Faith and Its Critics (2009). karen kilby is Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham and President of the Catholic Theological Associ- ation of Great Britain. She is the author of A Brief Introduction to Karl Rahner (2007) and Karl Rahner: Theology and Philosophy (2004).
    [Show full text]
  • Karl Barth and Hans Urs Von Balthasar: a Critical Engagement
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository KARL BARTH AND HANS URS VON BALTHASAR: A CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT by STEPHEN DAVID WIGLEY A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology and Religion School of Historical Studies The University of Birmingham January 2006 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar: a critical engagement Abstract This thesis examines the relationship between two major twentieth century theologians, Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar. It seeks to show how their meeting, resulting in von Balthasar’s seminal study The Theology of Karl Barth, goes on to influence von Balthasar’s theological development throughout his trilogy beginning with The Glory of the Lord, continuing in the Theo-Drama and concluding with the Theo-Logic. In particular it explores the significance of the debate over the ‘analogy of being’ and seeks to show that von Balthasar’s decision to structure his trilogy around the transcendentals of ‘being’, the beautiful, the good and the true, results from his re-affirmation of the role of analogy in light of his debate with Barth.
    [Show full text]
  • National Fate and Empire: George Grant and Canadian Foreign Policy
    National Fate and Empire: George Grant and Canadian Foreign Policy by Scott Staring A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Scott Patrick Staring 2010 National Fate and Empire: George Grant and Canadian Foreign Policy Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Scott Staring Department of Political Science University of Toronto Abstract This study examines the foreign policy views of the Canadian thinker, George Grant. It focuses on the years between Mackenzie King’s re-election in 1935 and the Liberal party’s return to power under Lester Pearson in 1963. During this period, Grant argued, Canada was transformed from a British dependent to a satellite of the United States, a process that he believed had been accelerated by the continentalist economic and security policies of successive Liberal governments. As a young man during World War II, Grant admired the United States of F. D. Roosevelt. But as he began to contemplate the threat that a postwar Pax Americana posed to the societies of the Old World, and, ultimately, to Canada, his misgivings grew. His attempts to understand the emerging order led him to a critical study of modern liberalism, which he believed provided the chief philosophical justification for America’s expansion. Unlike Marxists who saw liberalism as simply an ideology of ii individual greed, Grant claimed that it succeeded largely by appealing to our hopes for social progress. These hopes found their loftiest expression in the belief that liberalism’s internationalization would produce the conditions for the overcoming of war within and between nations.
    [Show full text]
  • Uot History Freidland.Pdf
    Notes for The University of Toronto A History Martin L. Friedland UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2002 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-8526-1 National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Friedland, M.L. (Martin Lawrence), 1932– Notes for The University of Toronto : a history ISBN 0-8020-8526-1 1. University of Toronto – History – Bibliography. I. Title. LE3.T52F75 2002 Suppl. 378.7139’541 C2002-900419-5 University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the finacial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada, through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP). Contents CHAPTER 1 – 1826 – A CHARTER FOR KING’S COLLEGE ..... ............................................. 7 CHAPTER 2 – 1842 – LAYING THE CORNERSTONE ..... ..................................................... 13 CHAPTER 3 – 1849 – THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AND TRINITY COLLEGE ............................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 4 – 1850 – STARTING OVER ..... ..........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 2020-CV-Sonderegger.Pdf
    CURRICULUM VITAE Katherine Sonderegger Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology Virginia Theological Seminary 3737 Seminary Rd. Alexandria, Va. 22304 703 461 1746 [email protected] Education: Brown University, Department of Religious Studies; PhD 1990 Western Religious Thought Dissertation: Karl Barth's Dogmatic Interpretation of Israel Wendell S. Dietrich, advisor Yale University Divinity School; M.Div (Biblical Studies) 1976; STM (Theology)1984 Smith College; AB, 1972 Medieval Studies Professional Experience: Virginia Theological Seminary Professor of Theology, 2002- Named William Meade Professor, 2014, Distinguished Professor, 2020. Middlebury College Department of Religion Visiting Instructor, 1987-90 Assistant Professor, 1990-93 Associate Professor, 1993-98 Professor, 1998-2002 Bangor Theological Seminary Hanover, NH Instructor in Theology, 1993-96 Chaplain Intern, Yale New-Haven Hospital, New Haven, Ct. 1980-82 Minister of Education, United Church of Christ, Milford, Ct., 1976-78 Ordained, United Church of Christ, 1977; Confirmed in the Episcopal Church, 1993; Ordained Deacon and Priest, 2000. Resident in the Diocese of Virginia. Administrative Experience and Institutional Service: Virginia Theological Seminary: Faculty Representative to Trustees Admissions Committee Curriculum Committee Library Committee Book Review Editor, Virginia Seminary Journal, 2007-09 Masters Committee Worship Committee Faculty Representative, Buildings and Grounds Seminary Representative to the Anglican Theological Review Middlebury College: Appeals
    [Show full text]
  • Reflections on Thomas F. Torrance's Theological Science
    FEATURE ARTICLE A MANIFESTO FOR INTELLECTUAL ENGAGEMENT: Reflections on Thomas F. Torrance’s Theological Science (1969) Alister E. McGrath, DPhil, DD, DLitt, FRSA Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion University of Oxford [email protected] This lecture was given to the T. F. Torrance Theological Fellowship at the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion. It focuses on my own multiple readings of one of Torrance’s best-known works, Theological Science (1969), exploring its strategy for encouraging and informing intellectual engagement between theology and other disciplines, most notably the natural sciences. The lecture locates Theological Science within the context of Torrance’s overall theological project, and considers its distinct approach to theological rationality and its wider implications. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let me begin by expressing my delight at being able to honour the memory of Tom Torrance in this way. There is no doubt in my mind that Torrance is one of the most interesting and engaging British theologians of the 20th century, and it is quite likely that he’ll be one of the relatively few such theologians to find a readership in the next generation. Nobody really understands the mechanisms and factors governing the reception of the theological past. We can certainly try to make sense of why some writers continue to be read today where others have been discarded and forgotten. But we cannot predict whom the future will value and remember. Nevertheless, it seems to me that a core criterion is that a writer must continue to be useful; that is to say, a future generation must find a theological writer to engage meaningful questions in a manner and with a quality that seem to outshine more recent alternatives.
    [Show full text]