DOCSLIB.ORG

Historicism, Theology and the Quest for Jesus Sheila Greeve Davaney

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Historicism, Theology and the Quest for Jesus Sheila Greeve Davaney Louvain Studies 32 (2007) 81-110 doi: 10.2143/LS.32.1.2032353 © 2007 by Louvain Studies, all rights reserved The Outsideless Life: Historicism, Theology and the Quest for Jesus Sheila Greeve Davaney Abstract. — This article examines the rise of historicism in Europe and the United States and its relation to and challenges for the historical quest for Jesus. In particu- lar, the article interrogates the ramifi cations for theology and the role the fi gure of Jesus has and might still play in theology today when historicist assumptions concerning the conditioned, situated, fallible and thoroughly human character of all human knowledge are taken seriously. The article calls for the historicizing and naturalizing of theology and the objects of its inquiry including the Christian past and its central fi gure, Jesus. I. Prefatory Remarks This volume has as its focus the relation between the various stages of the on-going Quest for the historical Jesus. In particular the essays contained herein are concerned to delineate how the most recent quest, the so-called Third Quest, is indebted to its predecessors in ways that might not always be acknowledged or even recognized by the present day searchers for the historical fi gure of Jesus. In this regard, our contempo- rary moment, infl ected by its rejection of so much of modernity, appears to be characterized by a certain forgetfulness or amnesia leading present day thinkers to ignore the insights of those who have gone before. More- over, current thinkers often seem to fail to note the problems our fore- bears identifi ed including those ones that earlier scholars were not able to adequately overcome. These articles seek to analyze more closely both the earlier moments in the quest of the historical Jesus and the present day quest to gain more insight into their dialectical relation. I enter this conversation neither as a biblical scholar engaged in the quest nor as a historian of the quest. Rather I am an American academic theologian working out of a historicist perspective whose primary con- versation partners are cultural theorists and not biblical scholars. As such I come to this discussion without the confessional or dogmatic interests that drive many other theologians today. My interests are primarily in 11252-08_LouvainStud_05.indd252-08_LouvainStud_05.indd 8811 001-09-20081-09-2008 16:17:3516:17:35 82 SHEILA GREEVE DAVANEY the continuities and differences that can be discerned between nine- teenth century historicism and contemporary historicism and in the implications of historicist claims for theology and especially for how present day theology might conceive its relation to the past, including that past designated by the quest for the historical fi gure of Jesus. Hence, my concerns are more theoretical and methodological than substantive; I am less interested in what any particular quest for Jesus proposes and more concerned with what theologians understand the purpose and implications of such a venture to entail for contemporary theological construction. To that end I will sketch a version of earlier forms of his- toricism and then, in turn, examine present day historicist claims in order to refl ect upon their implications for theology and for the status of the past in theological proposals for today. II. The Emergence of Historicism Historicism is a term that has emerged during the last several cen- turies along with such cognate notions as historicity, historical conscious- ness and historical understanding. It does not have a singular meaning or defi nition that all thinkers who have been associated with historicism share. The notion has, in fact, carried a diversity of assumptions, impli- cations and repercussions that have been and are now appropriated for diverse and sometimes disparate purposes. In the most general sense historicism and its related terms are the conceptual indicators of the recognition that human existence is thor- oughly historical, situated within, conditioned by and productive of his- tory. For historicists, it is human historicity that provides the entrée into understanding human life; the historical realm designates the locus of “the truth, meaning and value” in relation to human existence.1 The historical realm is, for historicists, the arena within which human exist- ence takes place and in relation to which human existence gains its sig- nifi cance; history is both the residence of human action and thought and the vehicle for all human meaning and value. Historicism is, however, not just a conceptual tool for interpreting the nature of human existence. It also designates a particular movement and set of developments that arose at a particular time and have a specifi c history of their own. Historicism arose, in its European mode, in the late 1. Dwight E. Lee and Robert N. Beck, “The Meaning of ‘Historicism’,” American Historical Review 59 (1953-54) 577. 11252-08_LouvainStud_05.indd252-08_LouvainStud_05.indd 8822 001-09-20081-09-2008 16:17:3616:17:36 HISTORICISM, THEOLOGY AND THE QUEST FOR JESUS 83 eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as part of a widespread critical reaction to the Enlightenment. It represented both the continuance of certain assumptions and commitments inherited from the Enlighten- ment, such as a desire for certain knowledge, and a clear rejection of many Enlightenment themes especially the universalism of the early modern period. As the nineteenth century unfolded various forms of historicism took shape, sharing a critical attitude toward the immediate past but often confl icting with one another. Clive Marsh, in an interest- ing article on the various permutations of the quest for the historical Jesus, asserts that there have been at least nine variations of the quests that simultaneously overlap and challenge one another.2 Much the same could be stated about historicism. There have been many variations of historicism and it is important not to reduce the complexly-textured development of historicist thinking to only one form. This article will delineate several forms of historicism that are most pertinent to the dis- cussion of the quest for Jesus but does not purport to offer an exhaustive account. It is important to begin this account of historicism by noting that in almost all its forms in Europe historicism took shape in critical reac- tion to the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment, which stretched from the seventeenth century until the early nineteenth century (depending upon where you locate Immanuel Kant in the debates) sought, in part, to discover clear and self-evident grounds for adjudicating among com- peting claims to truth and for resolving political, social and religious disputes. The Enlightenment itself emerged from a hundred years of religious and political warfare in Europe and refl ected the need to fi nd some non-violent, shared means of responding to confl icts and compet- ing assertions about what should be taken to be true. Enlightenment thinkers turned to reason and especially the developing sciences to fi nd ways beyond the intractable confl icts among various religious groups and political perspectives. During the Franco-British or western phase of the Enlightenment, thinkers sought to free themselves from the burden of both the past and of tradition and to articulate and certify as true only those claims that might hold true in all circumstances and every time and place. The authorities of Church and tradition yielded to the authority of the autonomous and rational individual and to the mandates of an assumed to be universal reason embodied most fully in modern science, especially 2. Clive Marsh, “Quests of the Historical Jesus in New Historicist Perspective,” Biblical Interpretation 5 (1997) 403-437. 11252-08_LouvainStud_05.indd252-08_LouvainStud_05.indd 8833 001-09-20081-09-2008 16:17:3616:17:36 84 SHEILA GREEVE DAVANEY mathematics. The Western Enlightenment, from René Descartes on, sought in the words of Jeffrey Stout, “to escape history.”3 The Western or Franco-British Enlightenment was not, however, the only form emergent modernity took. There developed in Germany, in the fi rst half of the eighteenth century, an especially Germanic form of the Enlightenment which was not nearly as hostile to history and the past including the religious inheritances of Christianity and Judaism. Whereas revolutionary political and intellectual orientations character- ized the Western Enlightenment, the Aufklärung of Germany was much more reformist in nature and far more positive toward the particularities of its own historical heritage. It was during this period of the German Enlightenment that history began to come to prominence, the historical critical method of inquiry gained defi nition and the enunciation of his- toricist themes commenced both within the work of signifi cant thinkers and across the wider reaches of society. Over against the Franco-British appeal to abstract reason shorn of tradition, Germanic thinkers increas- ingly turned to the study of history asserting that it was emersion [immersion?] into the rich histories of particular peoples that enabled modern persons to avoid the sectarianism and parochialism that had led to the religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. For the thinkers of the German Enlightenment interest in universal reason was tempered by the conviction that history provided a critique of the present and visions for the future. As the eighteenth century unfolded increas- ingly there were developments in philology, the collection and analysis of documentary evidence and archival materials, and a growing consoli- dation of scholarly standards for historical research. On numerous fronts, a growing interest in the particularities of language and culture became prominent, replacing the cosmopolitanism and universalism of the Western Enlightenment. The study of the Bible in Germany demonstrated both the growing interest in the past and also the steady evolvement of historicist attitudes toward earlier ages in the human saga. Critical biblical scholarship was on the increase throughout Europe and most especially in Germany.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • THE PERNICIOUS INFLUENCES of IMMANUEL KANT Donald Ray
    THE PERNICIOUS INFLUENCES OF IMMANUEL KANT Donald Ray Hargrove Classical Philosophy PH501 November 28, 2011 THE PERNICIOUS INFLENCES OF IMMANUEL KANT The notable Christian apologist Norman Geisler commented to a class of about forty seminarians who were actively involved in the professional study of God’s Word with something like: ‘Men, Immanuel Kant has a bigger influence on your life than Jesus Christ.’1 When I heard about Geisler’s comment, it woke me from my slumber regarding the importance for every Christian to understand Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and his influences. It would be one thing if Geisler made the comment to Christians who were not serious about the Word of God. However, this charge was made to seminarians who had taken the call of Jesus Christ seriously enough to receive professional training in Christ’s Word for the purpose of serving Him as evangelists, pastors, Bible teachers, and theologians. Could it be true that these seminarians were more influenced by the thoughts of a man whom they may not have known much about than the Man whom they were actively studying? Could mere philosophical naiveté be responsible for them being more influenced by Kant than Christ? If so, what are the characteristics of and distinctions between the influences of Immanuel Kant and Jesus Christ? Such a charge by the likes of Norman Geisler should not be lightly dismissed by any Christian. Given the grave repercussions, it is imperative for every Christian to understand the 1Norman Geisler’s comment was related by Professor Richard Howe in a recorded lecture at Southern Evangelical Seminary in distance education course “PH501, Classical Philosophy,” lecture 12.
    [Show full text]
  • Generous Orthodoxy - Doing Theology in the Spirit
    Generous Orthodoxy - Doing Theology in the Spirit When St Mellitus began back in 2007, a Memorandum of Intent was drawn up outlining the agreement for the new College. It included the following paragraph: “The Bishops and Dean of St Mellitus will ensure that the College provides training that represents a generous Christian orthodoxy and that trains ordinands in such a way that all mainstream traditions of the Church have proper recognition and provision within the training.” That statement reflected a series of conversations that happened at the early stages of the project, and the desire from everyone involved that this new college would try in some measure to break the mould of past theological training. Most of us who had trained at residential colleges in the past had trained in party colleges which did have the benefit of strengthening the identity of the different rich traditions of the church in England but also the disadvantage of often reinforcing unhelpful stereotypes and suspicion of other groups and traditions within the church. I remember discussing how we would describe this new form of association. It was Simon Downham, the vicar of St Paul’s Hammersmith who came up with the idea of calling it a “Generous Orthodoxy”, and so the term was introduced that has become so pivotal to the identity of the College ever since. Of course, Simon was not the first to use the phrase. It was perhaps best known as the title of a book published in 2004 by Brian McLaren, a book which was fairly controversial at the time.
    [Show full text]
  • Searching the Scriptures, Finding Christ in the World” Daniel D
    “Searching the Scriptures, Finding Christ in the World” Daniel D. Shin This paper addresses John Wesley’s thoughts on the connection between the means of grace and the renewal of the heart for the flourishing of humanity, transformation of the church, and missional engagement in the world in light of Hans W. Frei’s work. It begins with a brief discussion about Wesley’s sermon “The Means of Grace” focusing on the practice of searching the Scriptures and how it relates to the proper ends of religion understood as the love of God and neighbors.1 This is followed by Frei’s critique of Wesley’s approach to the Bible that makes the Christian journey its overarching interpretative framework. To shed light on Frei’s critique, his work on theological hermeneutics, Christology and ecclesiology, and theological method is addressed identifying along the way the three movements in the making of a public spirituality, namely, incorporation, refractive enactment, and correlation. Having clarified the promise of Frei’s work toward public spirituality, then the paper concludes with some observations about both convergences and divergences between Wesley and Frei on reading the Scripture, the social character of Christianity, and the use of third order discourse. In the sermon “The Means of Grace,” John Wesley expresses a grave concern about the use of the ordinances and in doing so points to the perennial issue involving the relation between the inward and outward dimensions of the Christian faith. One the one hand, he addresses those who had mistaken the means for the end and abused them, thus failing to realize the express goal of religion to “conduce the knowledge and love of God.” They were going through the motions alright but there was something missing.
    [Show full text]
  • Postmodern Developments in Evangelical Theology Robert Weston Siscoe Olivet Nazarene University, [email protected]
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital Commons @ Olivet Olivet Nazarene University Digital Commons @ Olivet Honors Program Projects Honors Program 5-2011 Postmodern Developments in Evangelical Theology Robert Weston Siscoe Olivet Nazarene University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/honr_proj Part of the Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Siscoe, Robert Weston, "Postmodern Developments in Evangelical Theology" (2011). Honors Program Projects. 9. https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/honr_proj/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors Program at Digital Commons @ Olivet. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Program Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Olivet. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Olivet Nazarene University for making this research possible. I came to Olivet specifically because I would have to opportunity to participate in an undergraduate research experience, and the offer has lived up to my expectations. I want to thank Olivet for the funding, instruction, and inspiration that I received all along the way. I would also like to thank my mentor and faculty advisor Kevin Twain Lowery for countless suggestions and re-evaluations throughout my first experience with research. His guidance and experience in the academic and pastoral settings helped me condense my final thoughts in a way that is both accessible and insightful.
    [Show full text]
  • {FREE} the Eclipse of Biblical Narrative: Study in Eighteenth And
    THE ECLIPSE OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE: STUDY IN EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURY HERMENEUTICS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Hans W. Frei | 384 pages | 01 Oct 1980 | Yale University Press | 9780300026023 | English | New Haven, United States The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative: Study in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Hermeneutics PDF Book Jan 21, Matt rated it it was ok. Update location. Retrieved October 3, View 1 comment. As can be seen from an annotated bibliography , there are very few recorded writings from this period. They do not help him construct a coherent alternative. After the publication of two essays for a festschrift for Niebuhr in including extracts from his thesis , and a short article on 'Religion, Natural and Revealed' in a handbook of Christian theology published the following year, there is a great gap. In many ways he felt that the stands he had taken in his thesis against prevailing modes of apologetical and anthropocentric theology isolated him again , made his work a struggle against the tide. One moment he can be talking about the rise of the professions in Germany and the impact that had on theology in the Universities. Most of these papers and lectures were indirectly or directly directed towards one end: a history of the figure of Jesus in popular and high culture in England and Germany since Refresh and try again. Categories : Baptist theologians births deaths Baptist writers German emigrants to the United States German Jews German Christian theologians American Christian theologians 20th-century German theologians American Episcopal theologians German biblical scholars American people of German-Jewish descent Yale Divinity School faculty American biblical scholars Hermeneutists German male non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Anglican biblical scholars 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers.
    [Show full text]
  • ON FREI's ECLIPSE of BIBLICAL NARRATIVE Cornel West Hans
    Vol. XXXVII No. 4 (1983) ON FREI'S ECLIPSE OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE Cornel West Hans Frei's book deserves much more attention than it has yet received in historical, philosophical and literary circles. His text is the best historical study we have in English of developments from Post-Renaissance hermeneutics to the mod­ ern hermeneutics of Schleier mâcher and Hegel. Frei's fascinating interpretation is intertwined with a complex argument regarding the problematic status of mod­ ern theological discourse. This argument rests upon conceiving "the Bible as writ­ ing/' which thereby requires appropriate literary critical tools. Frei's philosophi­ cal perspective is inspired by Karl Barth and indebted to Gilbert Ryle, Peter Strawson and Stuart Hampshire. His literary critical approach is guided by the monumental achievement of Erich Auerbach. And Frei's historical interpretation is wholly original—an imaginative reshaping of the terrain of early modern in­ terpretation theory. Frei's fresh interpretation demonstrates the specific ways in which forms of supernaturalism, historicism, classicism, moralism and positivism have imposed debilitating constraints on the emergence of modern hermeneutics. These con­ straints resulted in a discursive closure which prohibited the development of a perspective which viewed Biblical texts as literary texts depicting unique charac­ ters and personages. Instead, early modern hermeneutical discourse conceived such texts as manifestations of divine presence, sources for historical reconstruc­ tion, articulations of the inner existential anxieties of their authors, bases for moral imperatives or candidates for verifiable claims. In a painstaking and often per­ suasive manner, Frei examines the "precriticai" (a self-serving adjective coined by modern hermeneutical thinkers) interpretive procedures of Luther and Calvin, the pietistic viewpoint represented by Johann Jacob Rambach, the rationalistic approach of Spinoza and the proto-heilsgeschichtliche outlook of Johannes Coc- ceius.
    [Show full text]
  • Between Barth and Wittgenstein: on the Availability of Hans Frei’S Later Theology
    Modern Theology 23:3 July 2007 ISSN 0266-7177 (Print) ISSN 1468-0025 (Online) BETWEEN BARTH AND WITTGENSTEIN: ON THE AVAILABILITY OF HANS FREI’S LATER THEOLOGY JASON A. SPRINGS Hans Frei’s work on the concept of narrative in theology and scriptural interpretation is notoriously challenging. Recent treatments have high- lighted, in particular, the way that Frei’s account of scriptural meaning appears to diverge problematically over the course of his career, thereby creating the impression of two distinct phases of his work. Frei’s early work is commonly understood to locate the meaning of biblical narrative in the structures of those texts. “The meaning, pattern, or theme, whether upon literal or figural reading or, most likely, upon a combination of both, emerges solely as a function of the narrative itself,” Dan Stiver quotes a passage from roughly the mid-point of Frei’s career. “It is not imprinted on the text by the interpreter or by a multifarious interpretive and religious ‘tradition’....”1 In these passages Stiver reads Frei as rejecting outright such hermeneutical options as reader-response theory and Gadamer’s “fusion of horizons.” Stiver responds critically: Frei does not here take into account the way in which tradition and preunderstandings do not get in the way of but actually open up the meaning of the text and the way in which the reader inevitably is a creative participant in following the lead established by the text. Nor does he recognize the critical dimension of such hermeneutics that helps to avoid unconscious ideological distortion and a replacement of the text by the prejudices of the reader.2 Jason A.
    [Show full text]
  • Schleiermacher's Conception of Theology and Account of Religion 337
    Schleiermacher's Conception of Teology and Account of Religion as a Constitutive Element of Human Culture WILHELM GRÄB 1. Academic Theology in the Modem University The founding of the University of Berlin in 1810, which became for many the archetypal moder university, was a formative event in the shaping of the moder academic tradition of Christian theology in te nineteenth and twentieth centuries. When Hans Frei made this asser­ tion in Types of Christian Theology, he was referring to the considerable debate circa 1800 about whether theology ought to be included in the university.1 Some, first and foremost the philosopher J.G. Fichte, ar­ gued that it had no place in a university committed to moder stan­ dards of rationality.2 Te position that won out, however, was that of the theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher affirmed the role of rationality in the university, yet allowed it neither to dictate to theology its content nor to be in competition with it. He saw theology as a "positive" science or discipline (Wissenschaft), by which he meant that it was not included within any single theoretical discipline but was rather related to several of them and directed towards the practical task of educating those who would lead the Christian Church.3 1 Hans W. Frei, Types of Christian Theology, ed. George Hunsinger and William C. Placher (New Haven: Yale University Press, 190), 34-38. 2 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, "Deduzierter Plan einer in Berlin zu errichtenden höheren Lehranstalt," in Die Idee der deutschen Universität (Darmstadt: Hermann Gentner, 1956), 125-218. 3 "Theology is a positive science, the parts of which join into a cohesive whole only through teir common relation to a partclar mode of faith, that is, a particular way of being conscious of God." Friedrich Schleiermacher, Brief Outline of Theology as a Field of Study, trans.
    [Show full text]
  • Wittgensteinian Investigations of Contemporary Quaker Religious Language
    Wittgensteinian Investigations of Contemporary Quaker Religious Language Rhiannon Emma Louise Grant Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds, School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science September 2014 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2014 The University of Leeds and Rhiannon Emma Louise Grant 3 Acknowledgements It would have been impossible to write this thesis without the help and support of my supervisors, Rachel Muers and Mikel Burley. I am grateful to have received assistance from several funding sources: the University of Leeds University Research Scholarship, the Friends Adult Higher Education Grants, the Matilda Rickman Gift Fund and the David Adshead Award given jointly by the Quaker Studies Research Association and the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies at Woodbrooke. Many thanks are also due to my colleagues, family, friends, and Friends, especially those who read and commented on a draft of the work: Helen Meades, Myfanwy Reynolds and Susan Robson. 4 Abstract This thesis uses ideas from the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and a variety of Wittgensteinian thinkers to shed light on the ways in which religious language functions in contemporary British Quakerism. It does this by looking in detail at examples from published British Quaker literature. In the process of considering genuine modern examples of religious language within their community context, I uncover assumptions which enable these ways of speaking to make sense within that community.
    [Show full text]
  • The Trial of the Witnesses
    THE TRIAL OF THE WITNESSES The Rise and Decline of Postliberal Theology Paul J. DeHart THE TRIAL OF THE WITNESSES Challenges in Contemporary Theology Series Editors: Gareth Jones and Lewis Ayres Canterbury Christ Church University College, UK and Emory University, US Challenges in Contemporary Theology is a series aimed at producing clear orientations in, and research on, areas of “challenge” in contemporary theology. These carefully co- ordinated books engage traditional theological concerns with mainstreams in modern thought and culture that challenge those concerns. The “challenges” implied are to be understood in two senses: those presented by society to contemporary theology, and those posed by theology to society. Published These Three are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology David S. Cunningham After Writing: On the Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy Catherine Pickstock Mystical Theology: The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology Mark A. McIntosh Engaging Scripture: A Model for Theological Interpretation Stephen E. Fowl Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ William T. Cavanaugh Sexuality and the Christian Body: Their Way into the Triune God Eugene F.Rogers, Jr On Christian Theology Rowan Williams The Promised End: Eschatology in Theology and Literature Paul S. Fiddes Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy, and Gender Sarah Coakley A Theology of Engagement Ian S. Markham Alien Sex: The Body and Desire in Cinema and Theology Gerard Loughlin Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology Matthew Levering Faith and Freedom: An Interfaith Perspective David Burrell Keeping God’s Silence Rachel Muers Christ and Culture Graham Ward Theology in the Public Square: Church, Academy, and Nation Gavin D’Costa Rewritten Theology: Aquinas After His Readers Mark D.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Theological Hermeneutics in the Twilight of Modernity
    Cambridge University Press 0521650488 - Theology, Hermeneutics, and Imagination: The Crisis of Interpretation at the End of Modernity Garrett Green Excerpt More information 1 Theological hermeneutics in the twilight of modernity When philosophy paints its gray on gray, a form of life has grown old, and with gray on gray it cannot be rejuvenated but merely recognized. The Owl of Minerva begins her flight only at the coming of twilight. Hegel . there are no facts, only interpretations. Nietzsche Theological hermeneutics began in the Garden of Eden, as any careful observer of the serpent, that subtle hermeneut of suspicion, will at once recognize. In the earliest recorded misinterpretation of a religious text, he asks the woman, ‘‘Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?’’ We do not need to have read Foucault in order to discern the power ploy underlying the serpent’s exegesis. And even without a Freudian or a feminist to decode the real meaning of snakes who offer their interpretive services to young women, we may suspect that gender (not to men- tion sex) plays a role in the interchange. Now, whether or not the issues we call hermeneutical have really been The first epigraph is from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Vorlesungen u¨ber Rechtsphilo- sophie 1818–1831, ed. Karl-Heinz Ilting (Stuttgart/Bad Cannstatt: Friedrich Frommann Verlag (Gu¨nther Holzboog), 1974), vol. II, p. 74; the second is from Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will To Power,§481 (my translation). 1 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521650488 - Theology, Hermeneutics, and Imagination: The Crisis of Interpretation at the End of Modernity Garrett Green Excerpt More information Theology, Hermeneutics, and Imagination around since creation, they have surely been with us for a very long time indeed – as long as human beings have appealed to oral or written texts for orientation and mean- ing in their lives.
    [Show full text]
  • In Defense of Not Defending Kant's Religion
    Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 29 Issue 2 Article 6 4-1-2012 In Defense of Not Defending Kant's Religion Gordon E. Michalson Jr. Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation Michalson, Gordon E. Jr. (2012) "In Defense of Not Defending Kant's Religion," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 29 : Iss. 2 , Article 6. DOI: 10.5840/faithphil201229218 Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol29/iss2/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. IN DEFENSE OF NOT DEFENDING KANT’S RELIGION Gordon E. Michalson, Jr. This essay underscores the significant contribution Firestone and Jacobs make through the very thorough way their book surveys the wide range of recent scholarship bearing on Kant’s Religion. The essay then argues, how- ever, that the complex scaffolding designed to summarize and categorize the varied responses to Kant has the effect of muting the authors’ own very bold interpretive stance. This point is particularly true with respect to their account of the compatibility of Kant’s Religion with the Christian tradition. In addition, the essay suggests that the judicial metaphor of “defense” is overplayed, forcing certain interpretations of Kant into potentially mislead- ing positions for the sake of the interpretive scheme.
    [Show full text]