TRACING SOME TRAJECTORIES

links added 042506
  • Kant: the transcendent is beyond the five senses
  • Reid: the transcendent is experienced directly
  • Fichte: morality is directly related to God
  • Schelling: creation "looks like" God
  • Hegel: history is an important dialogue partner; truth is more easily accessed in the honest dialogue of the whole community
  • Schleiermacher: the importance of absolute dependence and a life flowing from that dependence; religion has to do with people
  • Kierkegaard: knowledge of God requires a decision--a leap of faith; knowledge of God can come only from God; there actually are paradoxes
  • Feuerbach: religion can be an expression of irrational wants and needs more than an expression of reality; religion can be oppressive
  • Marx: history can drive ideas; progress is contingent; religious ideas can be used by the powerful to oppress the weak
  • Freud: the unconscious mind is a powerful force
  • Nietzche: will to power as a primary driver of human persons
  • Old Princeton Theologians: common sense experience gets us in touch with reality
  • Barth: theology should be done in the context of prayer and obedience; God is most fully revealed in Jesus Christ; the Word of God is Christ and Scripture; the Trinity is a key understanding in theology; the radical helplessness of humanity
  • Brunner: the imago Dei was not eliminated by the fall, therefore general revelation is important to theology; knowledge of God is always "thou-truth" and never "it-truth"
  • Bultmann: God is the transcendent One who stands before the human person at the point of decision
  • Reinhold Niebuhr: progress is not inevitable; bald optimism is not warranted; humans sin by choosing either pride or self-doubt; sin is both individual and social; humans should understand our condition and have the courage to act in faith
  • Tillich: all humans practice ultimate concern ("faith"); the truth of ultimate concern is located in its object not its practice
  • Moltmann: God is moved by our suffering; everything is heading toward a God-intended end and that end (the eschaton) helps us interpret now.
  • Pannenberg: theology as conversation: it must speak and be spoken to; something (most things?) are unclear until the eschaton; the one church must find its place in secularized society; theology is not a private matter
  • Process Theology: God is in real relationship with his creation
  • Liberation Theologies: Christianity must impact all aspects of life, making the present look as much like the Kingdom of God as possible; God cares deeply about injustice, therefore, Christians should care deeply about injustice

Related post: Plotting the Edges of Truth

See also Mark's discussion on related issues on Made to Praise Him:
Which is bigger?
The Spirit of Truth


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2 comments:

  1. the list is the fruit of my term thus far...in fact the test is today (yippee). I plan to do another post summarizing where I think they have gone too far.

    Learning this stuff is helping clarify my theological views--and creatiing fodder for tons of further thought. So, we join a journey together.

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  2. I don't think ever wrote the "where they went too far" post. Since Spring 2008 will include a comprehensive exam, I think this post just made it to the summer project list.

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