DOCSLIB.ORG

Reforming Metaphorical Theology?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Reforming Metaphorical Theology? Reforming Metaphorical Theology?: A critical assessment of the works of Sallie McFague in the light of her respondents. by Rev'd Richard Hainsworth in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Cardiff University 2012 ii Abstract. McFague’s contributions to theology span over 40 years. Does her theological project, which aims to reform the Christian tradition, retain the coherence and consistency needed to fulfil this aim today? Surprisingly, McFague's body of work remains coherent, consistent and viable after many years of debate in relation to her own aims and methods and the responses of critics. However her theology can, in places, be strengthened in meeting its aim by an integration of more recent research or the work of her respondents. Developments in her thought over time remain generally consistent with her earlier work. Analysis of the basic categories of her thought shows a unity of form and content and an underlying conceptual unity. The models McFague advances are consistent as expressions of her stated method and aims. They perform the tasks set for them, if not always by the means she describes. Again the importance of the conceptual level proves greater than McFague allows. The coherence and consistency of the greater part of her work is weaker in its interaction with the Christian tradition. Her position on this has changed most over time. Work remains to be done on integrating her models with traditional ones. Despite her own judgements, this integration is desirable to maximise the reform of that tradition as she wishes and for her theology most naturally to be seen as reforming rather than revolutionary. But overall, McFague's work makes a valuable contribution to contemporary theology. She expounds coherent, original metaphorical models addressing contemporary concerns and a coherent theoretical framework that has largely withstood the scrutiny of respondents and developments in her field. Within this framework models may be created and assessed in creative tension with Christian tradition. However this relationship with the tradition remains to be deepened, strengthened and clarified by future research. iii iv CANDIDATE’S ID NUMBER: 0433714 CANDIDATE’S SURNAME: REV'D HAINSWORTH CANDIDATE’S FULL FORENAMES: RICHARD JOHN DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …27/9/12.......... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …27/9/12........ STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …27/9/12......... STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Academic Standards & Quality Committee. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …27/9/12....... v vi Contents. I. Introduction. Sallie McFague, a brief biography. 2 The location and aim of this enquiry. 4 Method. 6 The structure of the analysis. 9 Acknowledgements. 11 Chapter 1 - Beginnings: Motives, metaphors and parables. 1.1 Introduction. 14 1.2 Developing Motivations and Key Concerns. 17 1.3 Idolatry and irrelevance. 23 1.4 Metaphor. 30 1.5 Parable. 53 1.6 Jesus as the parable of God. 61 1.7 'Metaphorical'. 68 1.8 Summary. 75 Chapter 2 – Means and ends: Constructing a metaphorical theology. 2.1 Introduction. 80 2.2 Image. 84 2.3 Model. 94 2.4 Concept. 108 2.5 Theory. 120 2.6 Summary. 128 vii Chapter 3 – Critiquing models in practice. 3.1 Introduction. 135 3.2 Theology and metaphorical theology. 137 3.3 Truth and reference in metaphorical theology. 141 3.4 Assessing a metaphorical theology in theory. 155 3.5 Speaking to a context – the loving eye vs the arrogant eye. 165 3.6 God the Father. 172 3.7 The Aims of Metaphorical Theology. 180 3.8 Conclusions. 186 Chapter 4 – Models of God in relationship – Mother, Lover and Friend. 4.1 Introduction. 191 4.2 The meaning of God as Mother. 193 4.3 The love of God as Mother. 196 4.4 The ethic of God as Mother. 199 4.5 Assessment of God as Mother. 202 4.6 The meaning and love of God as Lover. 216 4.7 The ethic of God as Lover. 220 4.8 Assessment of God as Lover. 223 4.9 The meaning and love of God as Friend. 227 4.10 The ethic of God as Friend. 229 4.11 Assessment of God as Friend. 231 4.12 Conclusions. 236 viii Chapter 5 – The World as God's Body. 5.1 Introduction. 243 5.2 Criteria for the World as God's Body. 244 5.3 The meaning of World as God's Body. 248 5.4 Christology and the Body. 255 5.5 Eschatology and the Body. 258 5.6 Assessment of the 'God's Body' model. 264 5.7 The coherence of God's Body with Mother, Lover and Friend. 275 5.8 McFague’s most recent thought. 276 5.9 Conclusions. 284 Chapter 6 – Conclusion. 6.1 Introduction. 289 6.2 Challenges for McFague in the light of her respondents. 291 6.3 Bringing the threads together. 297 6.4 Summary. 303 Bibliography of works consulted. 307 ix x I. Introduction. 1 Sallie McFague, a brief biography. Sallie McFague was born 25th May 1933 in Quincy, Massachusettes. As a teenager she attended an Episcopalian Church in Boston and, although she recalls a childhood sense of wonder 'that I was alive – and so were myriad other creatures'1, she cites reading Barth's Commentary on Romans as being the experience in which she first 'began to have a glimmer of what the word 'God' meant'2. Over the period 1959-1964 she completed a B.D., M..A. and PhD. at Yale Divinity School and Yale University.3 At this point her research interests were particularly in the area of literature and theology, with a developing interest in biography. This phase of her career led to the publishing of Literature and the Christian Life in 1966, and at this time she was also editor of Soundings:An Interdisciplinary Journal. In 1959 she also married fellow theologian Eugene TeSelle (since divorced), with whom she had two children (and two grandchildren), and her pre-1977 publications were in the name Sallie TeSelle or McFague-TeSelle. McFague's early theological influences were Barthian.4 Subsequently 'She gained a different perspective from the person and thought of one of her teachers, H. Richard Niebuhr, with his appreciation of liberalism's concern for experience, relativity, the symbolic imagination and the role of the affections.'5 1 Sallie McFague Life Abundant Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril Minneapolis: Fortress 2000 p4 2 Ibid. p5 3 The Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Modern Western Theology at http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/mwt/dictionary/mwt_themes_909_mcfague.ht m as accessed 18/3/08 4 McFague describes her early theological development in 'An ‘Intermediary Theology’: In Service of the Hearing of God’s Word' The Christian Century, June 25, 1975, pp. 625-629 5 Wesley Wildman 'The Theology of Sallie McFague' 1988 The Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Modern Western Theology available online at http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/mwt/dictionary/mwt_themes_909_mcfague.ht m as accessed 12/07/10 2 McFague's Speaking in Parables (1975) marked the beginning of her published interest in religious language and its connections to ethical and inclusive living. In the same year, she became Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, where she had been a Professor of Theology for five years. She remained Dean until 1980 when she became Carpenter Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt, a post she held until 2000. This period from 1980 saw the publication of McFague's best known works, following what she describes as her realisation that her theology 'didn't actually function'6 in her life, and that she lacked a vocation. This vocation she found after reading an essay on environmental and nuclear issues and the urgent need for theology to address them, by Gordon Kaufmann. This led to the writing of Metaphorical Theology (1982) which set down the basic methodology that her work was to follow. Her following work, Models of God (1987), developed further particular aspects of that methodology and was awarded the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence the following year. A further development of the themes of Models of God and Metaphorical Theology resulted in The Body of God (1993), Super, Natural Christians (1997) and Life Abundant (2001), each of which has a strong focus on religious language and belief as a motivator for environmental awareness, concern and action. McFague was Distinguished Theologian in Residence at Vancouver School of Theology until her retirement in 2000, and her latest book, A New Climate for Theology was published in May 2008. 6 Life Abundant p5 3 The location and aim of this enquiry. Sallie McFague's work has been both influential and controversial in a number of areas of theology, including environmental theology, the dialogue between science and theology, systematics, feminist theology and pastoral theology. Although her works individually have been widely cited, engaged with and critiqued, particularly in the period 1980-1990, there appear to have been few attempts to consider her work, and especially her proposed methodology, over time or as a whole (although a few reviewers and journal articles have attempted this briefly for the books Speaking in Parables, Metaphorical Theology and Models of God – for these reviews see the bibliography, particularly the articles by Peters, Reynolds, McWilliams and Stenmark).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • New House Rules: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living
    Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living 125 Sallie McFague New House Rules: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living INTRODUCTION S THE ENVIRONMENT A RELIGIOUS ISSUE? Many do not think so. For most Americans, the problems with our deteriorating I planet can be fixed by science, managed with new technol- ogy.1 Let us hope that this is so, that science and technology can solve the looming environmental crisis. But it may not be that simple. Lynn White’s oft-quoted 1967 essay laid the blame for environmental deterioration at the feet of religion, specifically Christianity.2 If Christianity has been capable of doing such immense damage, then surely the restoration of nature must also lie, at least in part, with Christianity. I believe it does, but also with other world religions as well as with education, government, economics—and science. The environmental crisis is a “planetary agenda,” involving all people, all areas of expertise—and all religions. This is the case because the environmental crisis is not a “problem” that any specialization can solve. Rather, it is about how we—all of us human beings and all other creatures—can live justly and sustainably on our planet. It is about the “house rules” that will enable us to do so. These house rules include attitudes as well as technologies, behaviors as well as science. They are what the oikos, the house we all share, demands that we think and do so there will be enough for everyone. The words for these house rules are “derivatives” of oikos— ecumenicity, ecology, and economics—facilitating the manage- Sallie McFague has recently retired as Carpenter Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School.
    [Show full text]
  • TT-SYS Library and Archives Bibliotheque Et Canada Archives Canada
    University de Sherbrooke Faculte de theologie et d'etudes religieuses THE METAPHORICAL THEOLOGY OF SALLIE McFAGUE: an exploratory study Q. Hugh J. Gwyn Memoire de maitrise Programme d'etudes du religieux contemporain ©Q.HughJ. Gwyn2011 TT-SYS Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-88913-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-88913-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cosmos As the Body of God: the Interpretation of the Christian Story in Sallie Mcfague’S Oeuvre
    http://scriptura.journals.ac.za/ Scriptura 98 (2008), pp. 204-221 THE COSMOS AS THE BODY OF GOD: THE INTERPRETATION OF THE CHRISTIAN STORY IN SALLIE MCFAGUE’S OEUVRE Annalet van Schalkwyk Department of Missiology University of South Africa Abstract Sallie McFague uses the common creation story (or the postmodern scientific under- standing of the earth and the cosmos as remythologised by ecological theologians such as Thomas Berry and Anne Primaves) to reinterpret the various phases in the Christian story, namely creation, sin, redemption through the death and resurrec- tion of Christ, human agency and eschatology. She uses especially the metaphor of the Body of God to reinterpret the Christian story. To comprehend the significance of this central metaphor, one needs to investigate McFague’s fine comprehension of metaphorical language, sacraments and thought processes as these relate to the (renewal of) worldviews. This also enables one to understand the confluence of sacramental theology and agential theology in her praxis-orientated methodology. Key Words: Sallie McFague, Body of God, Ecofeminism Introduction In her oeuvre,1 the North American feminist theologian, Sallie McFague,2 reinterprets the Christian story of creation, fall (sin), anthropology, the salvific incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ, the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, the transcendence of God, and the eschatological vision of a new creation in terms of her exploration of what is known as the common creation story – or what I prefer to call the new creation story. To understand her interpretation of the main aspects of the Christian story or the main Christian doctrines in this article, I will need to explore with her the common creation story – or the remythologization of postmodern science’s understanding of the origins and the evolution of the universe, the earth and life on earth, by herself and by other main ecological theologians and thinkers such as Thomas Berry (1990), Brian Swimme (1992), Larry Rasmussen (1996) and Anne Primavesi (2000).
    [Show full text]
  • Reflections on the Work of Sallie Mcfaguei
    International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE) Volume 2, Issue 8, August 2015, PP 18-22 ISSN 2349-0373 (Print) & ISSN 2349-0381 (Online) www.arcjournals.org Reflections on the Work of Sallie McFaguei Dr Ioanna Sahinidou Ioanna Sahinidou holds university degrees in Natural Sciences and Regional Development and took a Philosophy doctoral degree in Theology at University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter. She works with the Greek Evangelical Church. Abstract: McFague conceives the cosmos as the body of God. God is seen as the spirit of the body, but by doing so she highlights her view of soul and body, of physical and spiritual reality as separate entities within our being. Although she tries to unite complementarily the soul and the body, her cosmic model of God’s body becomes problematic. We need God-models that express ecological interdependencies of life, coherent with ecological sensibility. Trinitarian perichoresis extended towards creation as Christological perichoresis, in incarnate Christ becomes such a model in helping us to conceive the trinity beyond any dualistic problems. By understanding the relationship between God and the world as between the mystery and the physicality of God, McFague maintains the dualism of both the physical and the spiritual realms of reality and thus the dualism of soul and body. Keywords: Common creation story, body of God, perichoresis, interrelatedness, Trinity. 1. INTRODUCTION Sallie McFague taught at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, TN where she was the Carpenter Professor of Theology. Her constructive theology moves toward an ecologically sensitive interest and the engagement of new images and models to think about God.
    [Show full text]
  • Sallie Mcfague Gives Us a Glimpse Into Her Own Religious and Theological Development up to the Period Just Prior to Her Retirement from Vanderbilt Divinity School
    Prologue: A Religious Autobiography Life Abundant In this personal reflection from (2001), Sallie McFague gives us a glimpse into her own religious and theological development up to the period just prior to her retirement from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Listening carefully, readers will hear the four “conversion experiences” described here echoed in the twenty-plus selections that follow this prologue. As such, just as “A Trial Run” (ch. 1, below) set the stage Speaking in Parables for her book , this essay anticipates the themes and ideas to be explored in this volume. Source: 2001:3–14 For many years I have taught a course on religious autobiography; it was the first course I taught, and I am still teaching it. Why? Because I am very interested in people who try to live their faith, who have what I would call a “working theology,” a set of deeply held beliefs that actually function in their personal and public lives. Augustine, John Woolman, Sojourner Truth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. are a few of these people. Each of them struggled to discern God’s action in and through their lives and then to express that reality in everything they did. Their theologies became embodied in themselves; as disciples of Christ they became mini-incarnations of God’s love. We call such people “saints,” reflections of God, images of God with us in the flesh. They are intimations of what it means to be “fully alive,” living life from, toward, and with God. They are examples to the rest of us of what a Christlike life is.
    [Show full text]
  • 08-03 H Richard Niebuhr
    This Week in Eden History Sept. 3 | H. Richard Niebuhr, 1915 Eden graduate and prominent Christian ethicist Helmut Richard Niebuhr,one of the most important 20th-century Christian ethicists, was born on Sept. 3, 1894 in Wright City, Missouri. His father, Gustav Niebuhr was a German emigrant and pastor in the Evangelical Synod of North America; his older brother, Reinhold, was a prominent public theologian; and his sister, Hulda, a seminary pro- fessor in Christian education. Richard (he did not care for the name “Helmut”) graduated from Elmhurst College in 1912 and Eden in 1915. He received an M.A. from Washington University in 1918 and began teaching at Eden. He completed his Ph.D. at Yale in 1924 and became President of Elmhurst College, serving until 1927. He re- turned to Eden as Academic Dean—the first in the school’s history— serving from 1927 to 1931. He modernized many aspects of both schools and laid the groundwork for their academic accreditation. In 1928, Niebuhr became chair of the Evangelical Synod’s Commis- sion on Closer Relations with Other Church Bodies. The commis- sion’s work led to the merger that created the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1934. Niebuhr accepted a position as Associate Professor of Christian H.Richard Niebuhr, date unknown. Ethics at Yale Divinity School in 1931, was raised to full professor in Possibly taken early 1920s at Eden’s 1938, and promoted to Sterling professor in 1954. He influenced former Wellston campus. | Eden American religious thinking through the students he advised and his Seminary Archives writings.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Analysis of Sallie Mcfague's Body of God Model As a Resource for a Christian Ecological Theology
    A critical analysis of Sallie McFague's body of God model as a resource for a Christian ecological theology By William John Frost Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology (Systematic Theology) in the University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Religion and Theology, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not Sallie McFague's body of God model is an adequate resource for a Christian ecological theology. The study endeavours to evaluate, test and revise this particular theological model. It is located on the abstract and hypothetical level and is thus a non-empirical analysis of McFague's thought. The researcher analysed the body of God model by using theological and philosophical resources. Current literature on ecological theology was studied in order to formulate thirteen criteria for an adequate Christian theology. These criteria were used throughout the study to test the theology that accompanies McFague's model. The study analysed three key areas of McFague's thought: cosmology, anthropology and theology. It was found the body of God model tends towards reductionism, because it does not appear to endorse a coherent complexity hierarchy. This reductionism was apparent in the three key areas of McFague's thought. However, it was found the body of God model functions as a transformative metaphor that takes into account the social reality that affects the health of planet earth. Its strength is a clear orientation towards ethics that takes Jesus' praxis as its departure point. The researcher provides suggestions on how the body of God model may overcome reductionism.
    [Show full text]
  • Aesthetics in the Ecotheology of Sallie Mcfague: a Critique and a Proposal for a Theological Aesthetics of Nature Mary-Paula Cancienne
    Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 1-1-2009 Aesthetics in the Ecotheology of Sallie McFague: A Critique and a Proposal for a Theological Aesthetics of Nature Mary-Paula Cancienne Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Cancienne, M. (2009). Aesthetics in the Ecotheology of Sallie McFague: A Critique and a Proposal for a Theological Aesthetics of Nature (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/236 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AESTHETICS IN THE ECOTHEOLOGY OF SALLIE MCFAGUE: A CRITIQUE AND A PROPOSAL FOR A THEOLOGICAL AESTHETICS OF NATURE A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Mary-Paula Cancienne, RSM May 2009 Copyright by Mary-Paula Cancienne, RSM 2009 AESTHETICS IN THE ECOTHEOLOGY OF SALLIE MCFAGUE: A CRITIQUE AND A PROPOSAL FOR A THEOLOGICAL AESTHETICS OF NATURE By Mary-Paula Cancienne, RSM Approved March 10, 2009 ____________________________ ____________________________ Marie Baird, Ph.D. Gerald Boodoo, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Theology Associate Professor of Theology (Dissertation Director) (Committee Member) ____________________________ Elizabeth Agnew Cochran, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Theology (Committee Member) ____________________________ _____________________________ Albert C. Labriola, Ph.D. George S. Worgul, Jr., S.T.D., Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • CV Mcfague Fall 2009
    Sallie McFague E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Theology Emerita, Vanderbilt University Distinguished Theologian in Residence, Vancouver School of Theology Address: Vancouver School of Theology, 6000 Iona Drive, Vancouver BC V6T 1L4 Canada Office Phone: 604-822-9514 Fax: 604-822-9212 E-mail: [email protected] Home Address: 2121 Alma Street, Apt. 802, Vancouver BC V6R 3R1 Canada Degrees B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Smith College, 1955 B.D. magna cum laude, Yale Divinity School, 1959 M.A. Yale University, 1960 Ph.D. Yale University, 1964 Litt.D. Smith College, 1977 Employment Distinguished Theologian in Residence, Vancouver School of Theology 2000- Carpenter Professor of Theology, Vanderbilt Divinity School, 1980-2000 Visiting Professor, Vancouver School of Theology (Summer School), 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 Visiting Professor, Harvard Divinity School, Fall 1990 Dean, Vanderbilt Divinity School, 1975-1980 Associate Professor of Theology, Vanderbilt Divinity School, 1975-1980 Assistant Professor of Theology, Vanderbilt Divinity School, 1970-1975 Editor, Soundings : An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1967-l975 Lecturer in Christianity and Contemporary Culture, Yale Divinity School, 1962, 1965 Assistant in Instruction, Yale Divinity School, 1961-1963 Instructor, Department of Religion, Smith College, 1957-1958 1 Memberships and Awards Yale Divinity School Alumni/ae Award for Distinction, 1995 1994 Midwest Independent Publishers Association Award for Best Religious Book: The Body of God (Fortress Press, 1993) Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor, 1989-1990, Vanderbilt University 1988 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence of Books in the Field: Models of God (Fortress Press, 1987) Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, Cambridge, England, 1985-1986; Lifetime Member, 1986 Member, Senior Commons Room, Mansfield and St.
    [Show full text]
  • MODERN and CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY Spring 2009
    Steven G. Smith home.millsaps.edu/smithsg Christian Center 11 — office hours posted Home phone 601-354-2290 Religious Studies 3120 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY Spring 2009 How dare human beings talk about God? Isn’t it terribly dangerous to do this? What makes it seem possible or necessary? Perhaps it is safe to say that wherever there is a sustained attempt to live religiously, someone will be trying to articulate the vision that makes sense of it and the principles that best guide it. We call this sort of discourse “theology” when it systematically refers to God and means to be about God as a (presumptuous?) study of God. Theology has been a mainstream intellectual occupation in Christianity more than in any other tradition. (Why?) As a result, leading Christian theologians typically have a lot to say about theological method and the history and horizon of this kind of thinking. (Is this a good thing? For our purposes, yes!) Theology changes over time, sometimes quite dramatically, because people’s understanding of what it means to talk about God is affected by historical and cultural developments. “Modern” theology is theology that tries to meet the challenges of the modern era, which are always at least partly defined or implied by the European Enlightenment. Recent theology has often defined itself as “postmodern,” positing that some basic principles of the Enlightenment are no longer in force. It is debated whether our “postmodern” life still belongs to the modern era. (I think it does.) In any case, we will certainly ask: How is theology challenged, and how may it respond, now? More broadly, the purpose of the course is to improve our understanding of theological thinking through the careful appraisal of significant texts and the reasoning out of our own judgments on matters of theological concern, with due attention to social, political, and cultural contexts.
    [Show full text]
  • A Reflection on the Theology of Sallie Mcfague
    ATR/97.1 Theologizing the World: A Reflection on the Theology of Sallie McFague John T. Harwood* Books Discussed: McFague, Sallie. Literature and the Christian Life. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1966. _______. Speaking in Parables: A Study in Metaphor and Theology. Philadelphia, Pa.: Fortress Press, 1975. ______. Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Lan- guage. Philadelphia, Pa.: Fortress Press, 1982. ______. Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age. Philadelphia, Pa.: Fortress Press, 1987. ______. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1993. ______. Super, Natural Christians: How We Should Love Nature. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1997. ______. Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2001. ______. A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2008. ______. Blessed Are the Consumers: Climate Change and the Practice of Restraint. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2013. “Unless you are educated in metaphor, you are not safe to be let loose in the world.” (Robert Frost) In a career spanning four decades years and encompassing nine monographs, Sallie McFague has pursued a consistent set of theologi- cal questions and critical social issues, articulating strategies for * John T. Harwood is an Episcopal priest who serves Trinity Episcopal Church and Zion’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Renovo, Pennsylvania. He is also an ad- ministrator
    [Show full text]
  • Reconstructing the Symbol “God”: Assessing the Potential and Limits of Gordon D
    Reconstructing the Symbol “God”: Assessing the Potential and Limits of Gordon D. Kaufman’s Proposal by Linda Susan Cameron A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Emmanuel College and the Graduate Centre for Theological Studies of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Theology awarded by the University of St. Michael’s College © Copyright by Linda Susan Cameron 2017 Reconstructing the Symbol “God”: Assessing the Potential and Limits of Gordon D. Kaufman’s Proposal Linda Susan Cameron Master of Arts in Theology University of St. Michael’s College 2017 Abstract This thesis offers an appreciative critique of Gordon Kaufman’s reconstruction of the symbol “God” as Serendipitous Creativity. While Kaufman’s reconstruction is laudable in that it challenges traditional anthropomorphic visions of the divine and aims to create a symbol coherent with a scientific worldview that encourages humans to address contemporary ecological and political crises, it is limited in its theological anthropology. Indeed, it privileges higher cognitive functions neglecting the importance of the affective domain and the range of human abilities in the experience of the human-divine connection. Therefore, this thesis opens an interdisciplinary discussion of the significance of the affective domain in the human-divine relationship referencing attachment theory, the psychology of religion, evolutionary psychology, psychoanalysis, and contemporary neuroscience to reveal the origins and persistence of the human inclination to seek a relationship with the divine. The thesis concludes that more nuanced approaches found in the United Church’s A Song of Faith, and in the work of Sallie McFague, Marcus Borg, and Daniel Maguire resonate more with believers’ emotional needs than Kaufman’s reconstruction.
    [Show full text]