Between Vision and Obedience—Rethinking Theological Epistemology

Theological Reflections on Rationality and Agency with Special Reference to Paul Ricoeur and G. W. F. Hegel

George Ille

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781620327272
  9781498265911
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630871093
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The discussions about subject and validation in our late modernity tend to oscillate between the "weak" self of postmodernity ("empty" or "rhetorical") and neo-Cartesian versions trying, as they do, to recover a discredited foundation. Correspondingly, the solutions advanced range from calls for a "New Enlightenment" (in the face of the resurgence of myth and "the irrational") to attempts to "re-enchant the world" (in the face of the growing threat of an impersonal instrumental Reason). The present study seeks to respond theologically to such a situation from the perspective of God's action in and towards the world by engaging two prominent philosophical/theological figures who continue to inform such discussions today, namely, Georg Friedrich Hegel and Paul Ricoeur. The upshot of this response points to a view of rationality that follows the drama of God's engagement with the world, thus involving both dying and resurrection, ascesis and abundance, suffering witness and eucharistic communion.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: The Hermeneutical Self—From Meaning to Revelation
• Part II: The Absolute Self—Hegel’s Journey from Revelation to Meaning
• Part III: The “Responsive” Self—Theological Rationality in Trinitarian Perspective
• Bibliography