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A Constructive Theology of Truth As a Divine Name with Reference to the Bible and Augustine

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A Constructive Theology of Truth As a Divine Name with Reference to the Bible and Augustine A Constructive Theology of Truth as a Divine Name with reference to the Bible and Augustine by Emily Sumner Kempson Murray Edwards College September 2019 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Copyright © 2020 Emily Sumner Kempson 2 Preface This thesis is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. 3 4 A Constructive Theology of Truth as a Divine Name with Reference to the Bible and Augustine (Summary) Emily Sumner Kempson This study is a work of constructive theology that retrieves the ancient Christian understanding of God as truth for contemporary theological discourse and points to its relevance to biblical studies and philosophy of religion. The contribution is threefold: first, the thesis introduces a novel method for constructive theology, consisting of developing conceptual parameters from source material which are then combined into a theological proposal. Second, applying this method to selective texts of Augustine of Hippos’ corpus and the Christian Old Testament does original work to excavate their accounts of truth and divinity. Third, this harvest is re-interpreted and developed into a constructive theological proposal, that understanding God as truth can robustly contribute to accounts of truth in general. The first chapter positions my study within the fields of theological and philosophical debate and presents its methodology. This clarifies its relationship with historical theology, and delineates a productive engagement with biblical studies and cognitive linguistics, which accomplishes theological retrieval and resolves interdisciplinary tension. The second chapter examines Augustine’s writings On Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio), Confessions (Confessiones), and On the Trinity (De Trinitate). This engagement produces conceptual parameters that cover mathematical truth, Trinitarian logic, and human epistemic limitations. The thirst chapter examines the Old Testament. Judicious engagement with biblical scholarship and cognitive linguistics illuminates the Hebrew text’s complex articulation of senses and concepts associated with truth. From this, I extrapolate conceptual parameters that address truth-bearers and the relevance of divine truth to God’s love, being, law, word, and wisdom. The fourth chapter synthesises and augments the conceptual parameters developed in chapters two and three. The resulting constructive theology establishes the consequences of approaching ‘God as truth itself’ for truth in general. The relevance to perennial controversies in theology are noted, along with its potential to resolve philosophical challenges with further study. 5 Table of Contents Chapter I: Context and Method I.1 The Trouble with Truth Scholarship, Epistemology, and Alethiology Troubling over Truth: Analytic and Continental Philosophy I.2 Truth as a Divine Name Naming God Truth The Divine Names God as Truth I.3 A Theological Lacuna Christian Fundamentalism Reformed Epistemology Postliberal Theology Conclusion I.4 Recent Treatments of God as Truth Hans Urs von Balthasar Bruce Marshall John Milbank and Catherine PicKstocK Conclusion I.5 Methodology for Constructive Theology The Choice of Source Material Conceptual Parameters Constructing Christian Theology through being Congruent and Informed Responsible Interdisciplinary Theology Chapter Conclusion Chapter II: Augustine II.1 Constructive Method and Augustine II.2 Truth and Divinity in On the Free Choice of the Will Historical Context and Divine Illumination The Argument for God’s Existence Hierarchy and the Eternal God; Augustine’s Burden of Proof The Eternal Truth of Number The Eternal Truth of Wisdom One Mystical Vision and a Proof of God Limitation, Fallibility, Variability, and Diversity Universal Accessibility Benefits of Truth Conclusion II.3 Augustine’s Confessions Reception and Continuity Vocative Truth Truth the Sought-After The Holistic Search Augustine’s Vision in Milan The Vision in Ostia Creation Proclaiming the Divine Conclusion II.4 The Trinity and Truth The Semantics of Trinitarian Language God as Truth Itself Knowledge and Wisdom: Their Distinction Knowledge and Wisdom: Their Relationship Conclusion II.5 Conclusion Chapter III: The Old Testament III.1 Method and Interdisciplinary Considerations Textual Meaning and Sense Relations Biblical Studies Cognitive Linguistics Method The Question of Conflict, Congruence, and Coherence III.2 The ThicK truth of ʾĔmet The ʾĕmet Conundrum Proposed Solutions: All Truth, All Faithfulness, or Strict Polysemy Linguistic Guidelines for Appeals to Etymology The Transparency of ʾĕmet to its Root ʾmn and its Cognates Disproof of Strict Polysemy (or Full-Sense Boundary) Conclusion III.3 ʾĔmet Bearers Words and Objects: the ʾĕmet of Things People and God: the ʾĕmet of Persons Speaking and Action: the ʾĕmet of Deeds Conclusion III.4 Cognates of ʾĔmet The Root ʾmn Considering ʾĕmûnâ Considering neʾĕmān Considering heʾĕmîn Considering ʾāmēn Conclusion III.5 ʾĔmet in Devotional, Judicial, and Wisdom-SeeKing Contexts Introduction Devotional Contexts of ʾĕmet Judicial Contexts of ʾĕmet Wisdom-SeeKing Contexts of ʾĕmet III.6 Conceptual Frames of ʾĔmet The Words and Things of dābār The God called ‘yhwh’ 2 Word of God: dəbar yhwh Wisdom (ḥokmâ) III.7 Conclusion Chapter IV: A Constructive Theology of Truth IV.1 Theological Construction and Parameter Review From Conceptual Parameters to Constructive Theology The Ten Conceptual Parameters IV.2 Alethiology: What is Truth? Choosing ThicK Truth The Fullness of God as Truth Truth in Creation Epistemology IV.3 Conclusion 3 Chapter I: Context and Method Truth has become a problem for Western thought. Although always contested, over the past century, an unprecedented uncertainty over truth itself has arisen. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries both analytic and continental philosophy have persistently disputed the nature and existence of truth. This uncertainty has spread from academic discourse to the public sphere, often with widely lamented consequences—such as the so-called ‘post-truth’ quality of recent political debate. Theologians and church communities have not been immune from the impact either, perhaps most notably in attempts to defend their faith’s reasonableness. Strikingly, the increased academic and public interest in truth has conducted itself almost without reference to a once commonplace understanding of truth. Specifically, there has been little reference to the longstanding and sophisticated tradition of speaking of God as truth. It is the purpose of this study to retrieve this understanding of naming God as truth for contemporary discourse in Christian theology. The strength of this constructive impulse may perhaps be best appreciated by considering three questions, phrased in general terms: i) What form did the idea take in its prime? ii) What led it to be overlooked and omitted? and, iii) Can the ancient Christian approach to God as truth be given a contemporary articulation? The first two are historical questions. To i), one would answer with a historical theology, depicting the historical notion(s) per se of God as truth. For ii), one requires a history (possibly in the form of a genealogy) for an answer, laying out the historical progression of events that lead to the notion’s decline. Question iii), however, is a matter for constructive theology, in that it can only be answered with a theological proposal that demonstrably re-articulates the ancient notion of God as truth for contemporary theology. This project is addressed principally to the third question, ‘Can the ancient Christian approach to God as truth be given a contemporary articulation?’ and thus, it is a study in constructive theology, not historical theology or intellectual history. This study lays out a methodology specifically tailored to the task of retrieving an ancient Christian approach to God as truth for contemporary discourses. The methodology incorporates historical theology and modern biblical scholarship—particularly with the aid of cognitive linguistics—utilising their insights for constructive theological import. Applying the novel 2 method will clarify the relationship between historical and constructive theology and enact a productive interdisciplinary rapprochement between theology and biblical studies. This will involve drawing on the Bible and texts composed by the highly influential Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE). Examining these texts in Chapters II and III will also yield newly articulated insights into each corpus’ portrayal of the relationship between truth and divinity. These insights, characterised as ‘conceptual parameters’ will be reconfigured in Chapter IV to create a new constructive theology of truth—one that addresses many longstanding
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