Theological Plunderphonics: Public Theology and "The Fragment"
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Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2012 Theological Plunderphonics: Public Theology and "the Fragment" William Myatt Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Myatt, William, "Theological Plunderphonics: Public Theology and "the Fragment"" (2012). Dissertations. 424. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/424 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2012 William Myatt LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL PLUNDERPHONICS: PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND “THE FRAGMENT” A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN THEOLOGY BY WILLIAM MYATT CHICAGO, IL DECEMBER 2012 Copyright by William Myatt, 2012 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One rarely realizes how much teamwork has gone into the writing of a dissertation until sitting down to write the “acknowledgements” thereof. My list begins with the longsuffering committee members who have endured more silence than I care to admit, while I have argued with myself and others in the solitary confines of a dissertation cell. Dr. Hille Haker’s early advice on my reading of Walter Benjamin, her challenge to my reading of Ricoeur, and her insistence that I clarify why I was using such an eclectic group of thinkers was invaluable. When I told my peers that Dr. Haker was serving on my dissertation committee, the response ran consistently along the lines of, “She will make your project better.” Dr. Jon Nilson introduced me to liberationist theology, a theme that runs like a thread through the skein of what follows. Jon may or may not remember that it was he who called to congratulate me on my acceptance into the Ph.D. program at Loyola. Given the level of investment—emotionally, intellectually, and financially—that has gone into the pursuit of my degree, that initial phone call is one I will never forget. Dr. John McCarthy, my dissertation advisor, has been the paragon of patience and flexibility, as I have wrestled this dissertation into submission. It did not take long during my tenure at Loyola for me to realize that Dr. McCarthy would make an excellent mentor. His ability to engage sympathetically with an impressively wide swathe of iii intellectual trajectories represents a deep emotional intelligence that is, unfortunately, rare in the academic community. It was Dr. McCarthy’s love for Professor David Tracy, his own mentor, that set off a spark of recognition in me, and which would eventually grow into the blaze represented by what follows. Dr. Samuel Attoh, Dean of the Graduate School, and Dr. Patricia Mooney- Melvin, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, kindly provided an Advanced Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and a serendipitous writing retreat in the serene setting of the Loyola Retreat Center. Dr. Jessica Horowitz, Assistant Dean of the Graduate School, and Ms. Camille O’Brien, Awards Coordinator, responded kindly and graciously to more last- minute requests for funding than I care to disclose. Jennifer Jacobs, Elizabeth Andrews, and Linda Lotton, Cudahy Library’s fine Interlibrary Loan staff, filled obscure requests— English and other—with speed and professionalism. Ms. Kristina Grob provided key points of advice, as I attempted to bring this long process to a close. Ms. Catherine Wolf and Ms. Marianne Wolfe responded, as always, with professionalism and kindness to all manner of requests—from copies to phone numbers, and from coffee to fans (yes, fans). Our department is blessed to have two individuals with such impressive gifts of hospitality. This dissertation bears their fingerprints. My fellow graduate students have likewise been wonderful partners in this process. Stephen Okey of Boston College and my Loyola colleages Kevin Considine, Adam Hankins, Dr. Jesse Perillo, Dr. Donald Wallenfang, Dr. Ryan Cumming, and Dr. Alec Lucas read various aspects of this project along the way, providing encouraging and insightful comments. iv The amazing family of parishioners at Sojourner Covenant Church in Evanston, Illinois has been a consistent, loving, and sympathetic source of encouragement. Thank you for being the body of Christ to my family and me. My parents—Gerda and Dirk VanStralen and Dr. Sam and Dr. Dottie Myatt— have not ceased to pray for and encourage me throughout this process. It is hard to express just how deeply I love and appreciate you. Well-timed visits, encouraging emails and phone calls, gifts and more gifts—you epitomize the Christ of our faith. I cannot imagine having accomplished this task without you. My kids—Zoe, Tessa, Tate, and Lilianna—you are just freakin’ awesome. My lengthy days of reading and writing were always a bit easier, knowing I had your smiling faces and fantastic knock-knock jokes to look forward to at the dinner table. Now that my dissertation is done, we are one step closer to that eschatological vision that has given us hope in this arduous process: getting Daddy a job and our family a dog. Melanie Marie Myatt, you are my best friend. Thirteen years ago, when we began our journey, neither of us knew exactly where it would take us. You have remained an encouraging and steadfast partner through many challenges. Certainly, this most recent is not the least. I am sure it will not be the last. Thank you for loving me, encouraging me, fighting for me, and preaching me into spiritual health. I love you. And…guess what? I’m done. v to mel TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii PART ONE: TRADITION AND PUBLICNESS IN PUBLIC THEOLOGY CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCING PUBLIC THEOLOGY 1 Introduction 1 Mapping Public Theologies 6 The Crisis of Morality: Postsecular Public Theology 8 Robert Benne 9 Max Stackhouse 12 Duncan Forrester 15 The Crisis of Civility: Public Theology and Political Theory 18 Kathryn Tanner 20 Michael and Kenneth Himes 27 Max Stackhouse (revisited) 28 William Cavanaugh et al 30 The Crisis of Existence: Liberationist Public Theology 33 Mario Aguilar 34 James Cone 38 The Crisis of Rationality: Fundamental Public Theology 42 John Courtney Murray 43 The Collapse of Enlightenment Rationality 46 David Tracy 49 Linell Cady 53 Questions for Consideration 59 How Does a Theologian Locate Meaning, Meaningfulness, and Truth in Dialogue with the Publics Informing Theological Expression? 62 How Does a Theologian Locate Meaning, Meaningfulness, and Truth in Dialogue with the Publics Informing Public Expression? 65 How Does a Theologian Facilitate an Interrelation of the Meaning, Meaningfulness, and Truth Disclosed in Both Theological and Non-theological Conversational domains? 67 Segue to Chapter Two 73 CHAPTER TWO: FUNDAMENTAL PUBLIC THEOLOGY IN “THE EARLY DAVID TRACY” 78 The Search for Objectivity in “The Early David Tracy” 78 Locating “The Early David Tracy” 79 1960s-1970s: The Search for Theology’s Cognitive Accessibility 83 External Factors: “Historical Consciousness” and the Challenge of Relativism 83 Internal Factors: The Search for Objectivity in a Theologically Imaginative Culture 88 Metaphysics as Horizon Analysis 92 vii Initial Observations 95 Metaphysics and Method in Blessed Rage for Order 97 “Internal” and “External” Crises in Blessed Rage for Order 97 Foundational Theology in Blessed Rage for Order 99 The “Space” of Mutual Correlation 102 The Pursuit of a Critical, Revisionist Theology 106 Initial Conclusions: Truth and Self-Critique in Fundamental Public Theology 110 Truth in Fundamental Theology 110 Critique in Fundamental Theology 113 Dialogue and the “Blessed Rage” for Order 115 Pluralism and Publicness in Analogical Imagination 118 “Internal” and “External” Crises: The Ambiguity of Plurality 119 Publicness as Disciplinary Self-Understanding 123 The Public of the Academy as Paradigm 127 Publicness as Truth-Claims 129 A Publicly Reconstructed Systematic Theology 131 Fundamental-Systematic Theology 133 Systematic Theology and Ideology-Critique 134 Conclusion: Conversation as Gathering Fragments 137 CHAPTER THREE: RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND NARRATIVE IN GEORGE LINDBECK 140 Introduction 140 Introducing Nature of Doctrine 143 Lindbeck’s Critique of Lonergan, Rahner, and Tracy 146 The Cultural-Linguistic Approach to Religion 152 Excursus: Cultural-Linguisticality and Dialogue 159 Conclusion: Toward a post-Lindbeckian Appropriation of David Tracy 165 How does a theologian locate meaning, meaningfulness, and truth in dialogue with the publics informing theological expression? 167 How does a theologian locate meaning, meaningfulness, and truth in dialogue with the publics informing public expression? 170 How does a theologian facilitate an interrelation of the meaning, meaningfulness, and truth disclosed in both theological and non- theological conversational domains? 174 PART TWO: PHILOSOPHY AND PUBLIC THEOLOGY CHAPTER FOUR: PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND PAUL RICOEUR 177 Introduction 177 Metaphor 180 Narrative 185 Narrative and Tradition 187 Subjectivity 192 Ricoeur and Public Theology 194 viii From Ricoeur to Benjamin 199 Conclusion 206 CHAPTER FIVE: PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND WALTER BENJAMIN 208 Introduction 208 On the Concept of History 212 Re-Presentation