Three Types of Today Theology
"Pluralism,"
the day's catchword, reigns in theology as well as culture. Gone are the
towering figures and their entourages (Barth vs. Tillich, for example), or the
simplistic 11 conservatives contra liberals" of another day. Now it's a
bewildering array of traditions and tribes. How do we sort and sift this
diversity?
George Lindbeck, whose
postliberal school has current high visibility, offered a threefold typology at
the 2001 meeting of the American Theological Society: academic, political and
ecclesial theologies. Readers of The Clergy journal live and work in the third
arena, so we narrow the focus to that circle, using another threesome within
that category from a recent study of trends in systematic theology in the
English-speaking world: evangelical ecumenical and experiential (As examined in
the issue, "The Resurgence in Systematic Theology," Interpretation,
Vol. XLIX, No. 5, July 1995.)
Evangelical theology is
grounded in a "convertive piety" (Stanley Grenz), giving pride of
place to Scripture; ecumenical theology draws deeply on the church and its
traditions, bringing them into relationship to an authoritative biblical text
and a catalytic social context; experiential theology uses human experience,
broadly conceived - "thinking or doing or feeling" - as its
fundamental referent relating traditional authorities to it.
Evangelical Theology
Evangelicalism shares in
today's diversity, ranging from old evangelicals of revivalist tradition (Billy
Graham) to new evangelicals geared to apologetics (Carl Henry), from
charismatics (Nicky Gumbel) to confessionalists (Mark Noll), from political
fundamentalists (Jerry Falwell) to justice and peace evangelicals (Jim Wallis),
and more. These sharp differences drive its theologians today to search for the
things that unite them as in the recent Christianity Today project, "The
Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration" signed by a list of
luminaries (Thomas Oden, Charles Colson, James Packer, David Wells, Pat
Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc.). For all the agreement, other notable
evangelicals are busy challenging the presumed consensus.
Another sign of the
search for centralities is the outpouring of evangelical works in systematics.
Major efforts that cover all the doctrines include those of Millard Erickson,
Donald Bloesch, Thomas Oden, Alister McGrath, Wayne Grudem, Stanley Grenz, Paul
Jewett, Robert Lightner, James Leo Garrett, Richard Rice, Gerald Bray, A. J.
Conyers, and coauthors Gordon Lew and Bruce Demarest.
On the specifics of
doctrine, current evangelical thought (in North America and Europe) moves
between the poles of stability and change, wariness about
modernity-postmodernity, on the one hand, and on the other, a curiosity about
and even cautious welcome of the same. At one end are theologians like David
Wells who indict popular evangelicalism as well as mainstream theology for
their bondage to contemporary culture, Millard Erickson warning of the seductions
of postmodernism and Ronald Nash, Wayne Grudem, and D. A. Carson castigating
other evangelicals for their accommodationist tendencies. At the other end are
Clark Pinnock and John Sanders vigorously arguing for an "open view of
God" in contest with the perceived rigidities of the foregoing (Sanders in
a lively debate forum in Christianity Today on the subject). Others in that
camp are Stanley Grenz who wants to stake out a "center" but is seen
by his critics as stained by his postmodernist sympathies and Pannenbergian
allegiances, and Roger Olson, vocal critic of "Celebration" and its
perceived Calvinist captivity.
A bipolar view of today's
evangelical theology, however, is inadequate, for it obscures a large middle
ground where some of its major theologians, and probably many grassroots
evangelicals, dwell. Among its formative theologians are Donald Bloesch,
influenced also by Karl Barth and P T. Forsyth; Richard Mouw, president of
Fuller Seminary, known for his "generous orthodoxy"; Timothy George,
dean of Beeson Seminary, active in catholic-evangelical exchange; the prolific
British evangelical Anglican, Alister McGrath; and popular writers like Eugene
Peterson and Philip Yancey.
Evangelical women
theologians? Roberta Hestenes and Beverley LaHaye signed "Celebration"
but there is no counterpart here to the influential experiential or ecumenical
feminists. However, emerging figures appear in the Fall 2001 Women's Bible
Commentary edited by Catherine Clark Kroeger, to date mostly unknown and from
around the world: Elaine Phillips, Molly Marshall, Camilla Blessing, Kay Jobes,
Rosemary Dowsett. Others are associated with the journal of Christians for
biblical equality, Priscilla Papers - Aida Besancon Spencer, Gretchen Gaebelein
Hull, Rebecca Grothius, Lynn Smith, Loretta Finger. Evangelical women also have
their spectrum, from Sarah Foy on the right to Nancy Hardesty on the left.
Ethnic evangelical
theologians? Broadly conceived, yes: educators like Robert Pazmino, ethicists
like Eldine Villafane, communicators like William Pannell, but few formative
self-defined systematic theologians, though Samuel Solivan or Luis Pedraja who
teach the discipline show promise. Assemblies of evangelicals drawing up their
"essentials" are still in the main white Anglo-Saxon Protestant
males. For all that, evangelical theology as now written cannot be dismissed
with a wave of a politically correct hand for its influence is considerable, as
indicated by the circulation figures of the evangelical journal, Christianity
Today, five times that of the ecumenical journal, The Christian Century.
Ecumenical Theology
Identity is also a key
concern of ecumenicals. This quest for essentials has taken place prominently
in official church dialogues, some of them coming to fruition in the last few
years with notable influence on denominational histories (an interesting example
of how the work of theologians can have significant institutional impact).
Cases in point are the 1997 Lutheran-Reformed Formula of Agreement, the 1999
Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, and the
2000 Lutheran-- Episcopal "Called to Common Mission." A comparable
breakthrough involving new ecclesial relations for nine denominations in this
country is scheduled for 2002, based on the "COCU consensus."
Paralleling these are a World Council of Churches global study, "The Nature
and Purpose of the Church," and preparations for a 2003 North American
assembly on ecclesiology marking an anniversary of the 20th-century Montreal
Faith and Order meeting. The doctrine of the church, after an eclipse, is once
again to the fore.
The ecumenical identity
quest is apparent in its own outpouring of new works in systematics, like the
ecumenical dialogues, often self-consciously rooted in ecclesial traditions,
rather than as private entrepreneurial ventures. Roman Catholic works include a
joint project edited by Francis Fiorenza and John Galvin, individual ventures
by Frans Josef van Beeck and Richard McBrien, and the continuing influence of
liberation theology's Gustavo Gutierrez: a Lutheran coedited work by Carl
Braaten and Robert Jenson and others by Ted Peters and Robert Jenson himself-
Reformed volumes by Daniel Migliore, John Leith, Shirley Guthrie and Gordon
Spykman; Methodist-steeped but ecumenically oriented projects by Geoffrey
Wainwright and Thomas Oden; works in the Baptist tradition by James McClendon
(deceased) and Thomas Finger; Eastern Orthodoxy's contribution by Michael
Pomanzansky. Attempting an ecumenical approach to doctrinal basics, but with
varied contextual emphases are the volumes of John Douglas Hall, Christopher
Morse, Gustavo Guitierrez, Peter Hodgson/Robert King, Fred Herzog (deceased),
and the writer. Two of the world's best-known theologians, themselves deeply
involved in ecumenical dialogue, have completed major projects: Jurgen
Moltman's five-volume series and Wolfhart Pannenberg's trilogy.
The religious pluralism
of the day is another setting that contributes to the identity quest. A range
of ecumenical responses are to be found, marked by the effort to strongly
affirm Christian particularity but also to honor the role of world religions in
the purposes of God, notably recent works by Joseph DiNoia and Mark Heim.
Concern about the erosive effects of religious pluralism produced the recent
and much-discussed Vatican statement, Dominus Iesus. Ecumenical dialogue with
Judaism is a separate agenda, as is seen by the growing literature asserting
the continuing covenant with Israel ("anti-supersessionism"). New
Testament scholars N. T. Wright, leader Keck, Paul Achtemeier, Elizabeth
Achtemeier, and Richard Hays stress the Christian debt to Hebrew traditions
while making a strong case for a high Christology contra the Jesus Seminar.
Influential voices in all
three of these arena - ecumenism, systematics, and interfaith issues - include:
an "evangelical catholic" perspective with its voice in the journal
Pro Ecclesia, with older theologians, Lindbeck, Jenson, Braaten, Wainwright,
and newer voices, Bruce Marshall, David Yeago, R. R. Reno, Christopher Seitz; a
rising neo-- Barthian school with formative figures George Hunsinger, Bruce
McCormick, William Placher, and William Stacy Johnson, and British theologians
John Webster and Colin Gunton, with the new International Journal of Systematic
Theology as a prominent venue; a self-described "radical orthodoxy"
group in Great Britain with John Milbank as a formative figure.
A "resident
alien" theology has made great strides among clergy restive with
politically correct trends and/or culturally accommodative thought, articulated
by the influential writings of Stanley Hauerwas and John Yoder with William
Willimon interpreting these themes in a more mainline churchly vein. Also
taking up a critical stance toward culture-Protestantism are "center"
movements in mainline churches (the label referring to Bonhoeffer's "Christ
the Center" in the tradition of the 1934 Barmen Declaration).
The attention to
"tradition" in ecumenical theology is reflected in the current
retrieval of the doctrine of the Trinity. Moltmann and Pannenberg have led the
way, but important contributions have been made by Orthodox John Ziziolas,
Roman Catholic Catherine Mowry LaCugna (deceased) and liberation theologian
Leonardo Boff, Reformed thinkers Thomas Torrance and Gunton, Lutherans Jeson,
Ted Peters and Eberhard Jungel, and free church traditions Miroslav Volf Also
retrievalist in a general sense, but with a sensitivity to the new in piety and
mission, are Marva Dawn and Kathleen Norris.
The concern for context
is represented by a lively exchange on science and faith and also the specifics
of such issues as genetic ethics, with John Polkinghorne, Arthur Peacocke, and
Ronald Cole-Turner making major contributions. Other issues of moment are on
the boundary of culture and theology, with the pros and cons of postmodernism
taken up by Anthony Thiselton, David Tracy, and "Reformed
epistemologists" Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff. The meaning of
"public theology" is much discussed by Max Stackhouse and also by the
heirs of Leslie Newbigin in "Gospel and Culture" networks in North
America and Great Britain. An ecumenical feminism that seeks to bring together
the texts of Scripture and tradition with social context is represented by
Letty Russell, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Elizabeth Johnson, Ann Carr, and new
voices that range from tradition-oriented Ellen Charry and Catherine
Greene-McCreight to culture-- oriented Kathryn Tanner and Serene Jones.
Experiential Theology
Human experience, as it
is shaped by culture, is diversity multiplied, so reflected in the advocacy
theologies that make it their orientation point. Among the current are:
Gender Theologies
Feminist theology that
still finds a place for "the Jesus story" (in contrast to a Mary Daly
or Daphne Hampson who reject such), though now relativized and revised,
includes such early leaders as Rosemary Radford Ruether reconceiving redemption
in an exclusively this-worldly way as a "feminist ecological liberation
theology." Elizabeth Shussler Fiorenza and Phyllis Tribble deconstructing
and reinterpreting Christian Scripture in the light of feminist categories.
Joining them are Carter Heyward arguing a post-colonial and post-patriarchal
"lesbian feminist" point of view, Korean Chung Hyun Kyung merging
goddess traditions with Holy Spirit themes, Sallie McFague seeking 11 to
relativize the incarnation" vis-a-vis a cosmic inclusivity, Rita Nakashima
Brock replacing the classical Christ with the "erotic"
Chrita/Community, Ada Maria Isasi-Dias espousing a mujerista theology that
interprets redemption in terms of the liberation of Hispanic women, womanist
theologian Dolores Williams viewing Calvary as a "double cross,"
coauthors Susan Brookes Thistlewaite and Mary Potter Engel, and political
theologian Dorthee Solle redoing the standard loci in min-systematics that
picks up many of the foregoing accents. The Re-Imagining Conference of 1993 and
its smaller sequels proved a platform for North American feminist-womanist
concerns. Gay/lesbian theologies join the gender category drawing on the
earlier work of John Boswell.
Pluralist and Postmodern
Theologies
"Plural shock"
(like culture shock and future shock) requires the abandonment of classical
claims that Christ is 11 the way, truth, and life" for all human beings,
according to a group of theologies that takes the contemporary experience of
religious diversity as normative. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, John Hick, and Paul
Knitter are formidable figures in this school of thought. Ninian Smart and
Steven Konstantine have coauthored the first full-scale systematic theology
based on the pluralist premise. The much-publicized Jesus Seminar is its own
kind of theological pluralism viewing Jesus as a human-scale social reformer,
mystic, or philosopher, one among many rather than the incarnation of the
second person of the Trinity, notables in this camp being Robert Funk, Dominic
Crossan, and Marcus Borg.
Postmodern Theologies
Harvard scholar Gordon
Kaufman's move from a Mennonite heritage to an "historicist" view of
the Christian tradition and then on to a reconception of God and theology as
imaginative human construals reflect the impact of postmodern times and
interpreters. Edgar McKnight argues for a "postmodern use of the
Bible" giving full play to "reader response" rather than
submitting to the claims of authorial intention or historical critical retrieval.
Rebecca S. Chopp and Mark Lewis Taylor have coedited an intentionally
postmodern systematics collection with a focus on the fragmentary, ambiguous,
and open
Process Theologies
We leave this category to
the end, for depending on the priorities in authority (Scripture as source and
philosophy as a resource, or vice versa), process theologies could be placed in
either "ecumenical" or "experiential" categories. Today's
leading proponents, John Cob, David Griffin, Margaret Hewitt Suchocki are
church thinkers, and their seminary-based Institute of Process Theology
influential in some mainline church settings. However, our
"experiential" rubric is its present locale, as the process
philosophical self-designation suggests the normative role of the thought of
Alfred North Whitehead.
Conclusion
Guidelines for clergy
confronted with this cacophony? Here are a few:
1. Note the common
concern for identifying the essentials in all three kinds of theology,
especially so in the writing of systematics that cover all the basic Christian
doctrines. Find an author in your ecclesial tradition, or one who shares your
perspective - evangelical, ecumenical, experiential-- and study that persons
careful attempt to do theology in the round. Do the same with another from a
different tradition or point of view. The discipline will refresh you on the
key Christian teachings and equip you for preaching and teaching in response to
the "what do we believe?" questions of your parishioners. Find a
comparable book on theological basic for laity that could be used in a course
of parish study.
2. Familiarize yourself
with your denomination's ecumenical involvements. Make use of the documents on
theological agreement for a study group in the congregation or with local
congregations of the communion with which you are, or will be, in new
relationship. Or take a breakthrough ecumenical document such as the
Lutheran-Catholic joint Declaration on the Doctrine of justification and invite
other congregations in the community to share in an Advent or Lenten series on
the same. (The popular Living Room Dialogues after Vatican 11 were fruitful
venues for theological deepening and interchurch amity.)
3. In terms of evaluation
of trends and perspectives, look with an ecumenical eye for the gifts giveable
in traditions different from your own. Paul, confronted with diversity in the
Corinthian church, spoke of a body with many parts, each bringing its charism.
Learn what you can from where you can.
4. When surveying the
field and clarifying your own point of view, don't settle for reductionism.
Paul didn't and warned us that no body is made up of just one organ.
Theological tribalism today flirts again with that kind of rigidity. Better the
newly formulated ecumenical wisdom of "mutual affirmation and mutual
admonition," saying a grateful "yes" where we can see
commonalities and offering to, and receiving from the other a teachable
"no."
5. Write on your banner
this updated and slightly revised version of the aphorism of pseudonymous
Rupertus Meldinius coined in the midst of the 17th-century theological warfare
not unlike our own: "In essentials unity, in perspectives diversity, in
all things charity!"
Source: The Clergy
Journal, Nov/Dec 2001.
By. Cope Langh Khan Kam.jpg)
