Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2002

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Philosophy

Major Professor

Charles H. Reynolds

Committee Members

David E. Linge, Mark D. Hulsether

Abstract

How can theology survive the acute challenges it has encountered in the modem era? Stanley Hauerwas suggests that theology constructed (or, better, deconstructed) on the terms set by modernity is bound to result in a theology that loses its voice-a theology emptied of any conception of God substantial enough to challenge a contemporary secular, scientific view of reality. Yet he maintains that theology is misguided to the extent that it submits to the principles which lead to this impasse. History has made us quite cognizant of the contingent, traditioned, and complex nature of human interpretations of the world. In light of the multiplicity of constructions of reality and the conflicting assumptions that lead to different ways of settling claims about truth, it becomes unclear how we might adjudicate between divergent conceptions of the world. Thus, according to Hauerwas, it no longer is obvious why the Christian tradition must work from within the assumptions of modernity-assumptions which lead to its demise. This work seeks to investigate both sides of this position. Can the Christian tradition, in particular, resist the attacks it has sustained in the modem era by insulating its claims in this sort of rhetoric? And, if not, does theology indeed, as Hauerwas suggests, start down a slippery slope which leads straight to its dissolution? Put broadly, these are the questions this project attempts to answer.

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