Table Of ContentSHAPING A THEOLOGICAL MIND
Rarely do theological thinkers have the opportunity to present their own
self-understanding of both their context and their methodology and the inter
relation of the two. This book gives leading theological minds from North
America, Great Britain and Europe an opportunity to explore the shaping of
their theological minds in regard to context and methodology. Asking ‘why
theology’, each contributor explores their sense of call to the Christian faith,
the purpose of their theological journey, and reflects on his or her context and
theology. Cutting across denominational, gender, disciplinary, international
and generational boundaries to explore shifts in theology and methodology,
this book provides a diagnostic tool for examining where theology has come
from and a compass to where theology is headed. Contributors include: James
H. Cone, Edward Farley, Colin E. Gunton, Alister E. McGrath, Wayne A.
Meeks, John Milbank, Jürgen Moltmann, Gerald O’ColIins, Rosemary Radford
Ruether, Kathryn Tanner, Keith Ward and John Webster.
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Shaping a Theological Mind
Theological context and methodology
DARREN C. MARKS
Wycliffe Hall and St Hugh ’s College, Oxford
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LONDON AND NEW YORK
First Published 2002 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2017 by Routledge
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Copyright© Darren C. Marks 2002
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Shaping a theological mind : theological context and
methodology
1. Theology
I. Marks, Darren C.
230
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shaping a theological mind: theological context and methodology I edited by
Darren C. Marks.
p.cm.
ISBN 0-7546-0616-3 (hbk.)
ISBN 0-7546-0617-1 (pbk.)
1. Theology, Doctrinal. I. Marks, Darren C.
BTlO .S43 2002
230'.01-dc21
2002023645
Typeset in Times by J.L. & G.A. Wheatley Design, Aldershot
ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-0617-8 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-0616-1 (hbk)
Contents
Contributors vii
Preface
Darren C. Marks ix
Chapter 1Looking Back, Going Forward
James H. Cone 1
Chapter 2 Ecclésial Contextual Thinking
Edward Farley 15
Chapter 3 Theology in Communion
Colin E. Gunton 31
Chapter 4 The Need for a Scientific Theology
Alisier E. McGrath 37
Chapter 5 The Irony of Grace
Wayne A. Meeks 45
Chapter 6 The Last of the Last:
Theology, Authority and Democracy
John Milbank 59
Chapter 7A Lived Theology
Jürgen Moltmann 87
Chapter 8 A Theological Pilgrimage
Gerald O’Collins SJ 97
Chapter 9An Intellectual Autobiography
Rosemary Radford Ruether 103
Chapter 10How I Changed My Mind
Kathryn Tanner 115
Chapter 11 A Constructive Contemporary Theology
Keith Ward 123
V
vi Shaping a Theological Mind
Chapter 12Discovering Dogmatics
John Webster 129
Chapter 13Method as Creative Fidelity:
Habitus and the Sensus Communis
Darren C. Marks 137
Index 143
Contributors
James H. Cone, Briggs Distinguished Professor of Theology, Union
Theological Seminary.
Edward Farley, Emeritus Buffington Professor of Theology, Vanderbilt
University.
Colin E. Gunton, Professor of Christian Doctrine, King’s College London.
Alister E. McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology, University of Oxford
and Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
Wayne A. Meeks, Emeritus Woolsey Professor of Biblical Studies, Yale
University.
John Milbank, Francis Ball Professor of Philosophical Theology, University
of Virginia.
Jürgen Moltmann, Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology, University
of Tübingen.
Gerald O’Collins SJ, Professor of Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University
(Rome).
Rosemary Radford Ruether, Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology,
Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley).
Kathryn Tanner, Professor of Theology, University of Chicago Divinity
School.
Keith Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford.
John Webster, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford.
vii
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Preface
The genesis of this text is admittedly somewhat selfish. As a youngish would-
be theologian, fresh out of graduate studies, and imbued with a sense of wonder
at the ‘cathedrals of the mind’ of many theologians, I wanted to ask questions
that reading texts alone would not permit. The most pressing question was the
hardest to answer: ‘why theology at all?’ To ask ‘why theology?’ was to ask
the question of the authors’ own lives and contexts, for it is clear from reading
the essays that each participant understands constructive theology as a form
of habitus theosdotos - the concurrence of their own contingent circumstances
in a greater culture (and its own problematic questions for theology) with
their sense of what the Gospel demands for, to borrow a Barthian term,
‘theological existence’ today. Or, put more simply and perhaps ‘spiritualized’,
in the confluence of their lives, experiences and education (both formal and
informal) with their theological writings, the question of how each is faithful
to their sense of call to the Christian faith is explored. In each essay what
cannot be denied is the sense thawt hat is being said (about faith and theology)
reflects a greaterW ho in light of a host of real and concrete issues. This is, not
at all, merely the preoccupation with the epistemological justification for
theology that contemporary theology is oft charged, but real theolopgriacxali s.
The issues of each’s work are the very issues of each individual thinker living
within their own sense of grace-vocation and provocation or challenge to
Christian solution. Each, as a theologian, is a ‘hearer’ and ‘preacher’, their
works being ‘sermons’ of their profession in Christ.
The mandate given to each participant was to reflect on his or her conte xt
and theology. However, to distinguish from the notableH ow My Mind has
Changed series, the focus was not to be on the alteration within theology
(although immutability is a negative quality even for God) but rather on the
consistency in development. Many in the volume have used the motif of
‘pilgrimage’; this is particularly apropos, in that a pilgrim might encounte r
many obstacles or adventures in the journey but sets out with a purpose to
arrive somewhere specific. In a like manner, each thinker in the volume was
asked to consider what purpose their theological journey was to seek, even
given radical shifts in the process. A second mandate was to attempt to provide
a theological ‘state-of-the-union’ by cutting across denomination, gender,
discipline, location and even status of career. It is the latter categories that
yield the most fruit, allowing a comparison between European, British and
American theology and also a comparison from very senior thinkers such as
Meeks, Moltmann, Ruether, Cone and O’Collins to those in very promising
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