A Scientific Theology: Theory

Couverture
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003 - 340 pages
Written by Alister McGrath, one of the world's best-known theologians, these volumes present the most extended and systematic exploration of the relation between Christian theology and the natural sciences ever undertaken. Thoroughly ecumenical in approach, A Scientific Theology is a significant work for Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant readers. Each volume is marked throughout by a sustained critical engagement with the history and philosophy of the natural sciences and by a passionate commitment to the legitimacy of theology as an academic discipline. Volume 3 provides a fresh evaluation of the origins and place of theory in Christian theology. Dealing with the question of how reality is represented in Christian theology and the natural sciences, theory is understood as a response to experienced reality, a "communal beholding of reality." Against those who might favor a "non-dogmatic" Christianity, McGrath argues that the Christian community is under an intellectual obligation to give an account of what it corporately "beholds." The many theoretical issues addressed in this volume include the manner in which closure is secured in theological theorizing, the problem of reductionism in theoretical analysis, the explanatory dimensions of theology, the implications of the stratification of reality for its representation, the place of metaphysics in Christian theology, and the nature of revelation itself. Book jacket.
 

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Table des matières

THE LEGITIMACY OF THEORY WITHIN A SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY
3
The inevitability of theory
9
Francis Bacon on theory
10
Theory in biology
14
Theory in physics
16
Theory in the human sciences
20
the place of doctrine in Christianity
21
Christian doctrine as theory
24
Explanation as abduction to the past in the natural sciences
153
the physical sciences
156
the biological sciences
158
Abduction to the origins of the Christian tradition
162
Revelation and history
165
Wolfhart Pannenberg on revelation in history
167
Alan Richardson on revelation in history
172
The transmission of revelation
176

some hesitations over theory
29
The critique of theorizing in the natural sciences
31
theory and defamiliarization
36
Theory and the redemption of particulars
38
The issue of closure in theory
43
Hilary Lawson
44
the dynamics of theological closure
46
three theses
50
The origins and instability of a nondogmatic Christianity
53
The lingering shadow of the Wars of Religion
54
The History of Dogma movement
56
The inevitability of doctrine
59
some British contributions
61
the ecclesial function of doctrine
66
Doctrine and demarcation from Judaism
68
Doctrine and demarcation from the world
69
the case of Christendom
71
Doctrine and demarcation of the Christian traditions
72
the suspension of demarcation
75
THE REPRESENTATION OF REALITY IN A SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY
77
some preliminary reflections
82
Representation through words
84
Representation through propositions
90
Representation through images
94
the limits of representation
97
Analogical reasoning in a scientific theology
104
analogia ends
108
analogia fidei
113
The limits of analogies
119
The interlocking of analogies
126
THE PLACE OF EXPLANATION IN A SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY
133
Explanation as a legitimate aspect of a scientific theology
134
The concept of revelation in a scientific theology
138
The stratification of revelation
143
theological abduction to the past
149
The concept of tradition
177
on rereading Martin Kahler and Rudolf Bultmann
183
Theology and the economy of salvation
190
A scientific theology and the explanation of reality
193
The explanation of other traditions
194
The explanation of the world
195
Pierre Duhem
198
the problem of suffering
204
faith hope and the resolution of theoretical anomalies
210
heresy orthodoxy and the development of doctrine
213
Scientific theorizing as a model for doctrinal development
214
a new model
217
The revalidation of the categories of orthodoxy and heresy
221
a new model
229
classic Christological heresies
234
THE PLACE OF METAPHYSICS IN A SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY
237
some preliminary reflections
240
Metaphysics in the classical period
241
Ayn Rand and Iris Murdoch
244
The twentiethcentury revolt against metaphysics
250
the evasion of metaphysics
255
Carnap and Derrida
259
The incoherence of the postmodern rejection of metaphysics
263
The metaphysical implications of the natural sciences
267
quantum theory and indeterminacy
268
evolutionary theory and belief in God
271
On reaffirming the metaphysical dimensions of theology
274
A B Ritschl and Adolf von Harnack
279
Martin Luther and Eberhard Jungel
284
The theological affirmation of metaphysics
289
ANTICIPATING A SCIENTIFIC DOGMATICS
295
Bibliography
299
Index
337
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À propos de l'auteur (2003)

Alister McGrath is currently professor of theology at Oxford and principal of Wycliffe Hall. He is a consulting editor, general editor and author of several books. He lives in Oxford, England.

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