A Neo-Anabaptist Response to Issues of Technological Change:
A Theological Project in 3 stages
Stage 1.
Elucidating the Framework: Context of Christian Social-Political-Ethical Reflection.Stage 2. Answering the Critics: Challenging the Dominance of 'Creation-based' Approaches to Ethics and Epistemology.
Stage 3. Constructive Proposal and a Specific task -- Exploring a Theological, Ecclesiocentric Approach to Technology and Material Culture.
Stage 1. Elucidating the Framework: Context of Christian Social-Political-Ethical Reflection
"Seeking a Community of Promise: The Ethico-Political Priority of the Ekklesia in Postmodern Public Theology" (BA (hons) thesis, Politics, Philosophy and Sociology programme, Murdoch University)
This study sought to articulate key features of the program of an ecclesiocentric public theology, shaped by neo-Anabaptism and post-liberalism, in four parts:
• 1. Challenging Separation between Theology and Politics.
The division between 'theology' and 'politics' in (post)modernity is contested. The underlying epistemology that frames the secular ‘public’ that divides between ‘fact’ and ‘value’, ‘public’ and ‘private’ is challenge in the name of the gospel as "public truth."
• 2. Constructive Theological Proposal.
The recognition and recovery of the ekklesia (the disciple community) as "polis"; that is, the primary social referent in Christian discourse. This is achieved in part through a recovery of the politics inherent within the gospel narrative - concerning Israel, Jesus and the Body of Christ - and especially the civic nature of the eschaton.
• 3. Constitutive Christian Practices.
The embodiment of the politics of the gospel in the distinctive practices of Christian community. These are discussed as paradigmatic performances of the gospel that shape the common life the people of God in their particular settings.
• 4. Reframing and Transforming Wider Society.
The reframing of the 'public' nature of the wider society in relation to the eschatological rule of Christ. This aspect concerns the relationship between the ‘two cities’ in terms of transformative confrontation and cooperation with special attention to the ‘secularising’ effects of the gospel, Christ’s victory over ‘the powers’, the tensions of living ‘between the times’ and between discipleship and citizenship in ‘civil society’.
The focus of this study was on three contemporary theologians who are exemplars of (or at least sympathetic to) this project:
• John Howard Yoder - Late Mennonite theologian with a history of innovation within the Radical Reformation tradition - especially the ‘politics of Jesus’ as a genuine ‘option’ in the ‘real world’ and ecclesial ‘body politics’ as a demonstration of that fact.
• Oliver O'Donovan - Evangelical Anglican theologian noted for painstaking care in scholarship, integrates careful exegesis and theological disciplines with the project of political theology; seeks the political meaning of the rule of God and the victory of Christ.
• William Cavanaugh - young Roman Catholic theologian in critical dialogue with contemporary philosophy and social theory from the perspective of a Catholic "Radical Orthodoxy" concerned with the ability of the Church to respond to the ‘project’ of the modern state.
My aim was to explore their accounts of political theology with reference to these four themes, how they interact with the Christian tradition, and propose a ecclesially-oriented public theology that is consistently faithful to their convictions (in Christian terms) and of possible (though not necessary) relevance and interest in terms of questions wider society is currently asking.
Criticisms of this first piece of work included:
• implied inadequate attention to the 'doctrine of creation' -- to be addressed in stage 2
• inadequate attention to issues of globalisation -- to be addressed in stage 3
Stage 2. Answering the Critics: Challenging the Dominance of 'Creation-based' Approaches to Ethics and Epistemology
"Nonfoundationalism, Convictional Communities and the Role of the ‘Doctrine of Creation’ in the Theologies of Culture of James Wm. McClendon, Jr, Stanley Hauerwas and Their Critics." (M.Phil, Murdoch University)
This thesis is another step in my overall project: "Toward a Postliberal, Neo-Anabaptist Public Theology". This second stage is concerned to understand and answer one of the criticisms often raised against such a project. This criticism rests in the fear that to strongly articulate Christian convictions that emphasise Christology or Eschatology in public discourse is to maintain a ‘sectarian’ stance, or is to be ‘against culture’ or to deny or undervalue the "doctrine of creation".
The Problem
"Neo-Anabaptist" theologian Stanley Hauerwas has an unusually high profile (for a theologian) in North American public debates in areas such as medical ethics yet is criticised by some Christians for maximising the critical edge, particularity and difference of Christian faith. One criticism relates to Hauerwas’s allegedly "weak doctrine of creation". A 'stronger' doctrine of creation, critics argue, permits possibilities of greater ethical commonality and affirmation of "culture" than Hauerwas allows.
Hauerwas denies this charge. On the one hand, he claims that he affirms 'creation' but in relation to his confession of the resurrection of Jesus and the eschaton. On the other hand, he denies the validity of such a criticism in that appeals to 'creation', he says, tend to privilege a kind of 'natural ethic' or 'natural theology' that minimises the distinctiveness of Christian convictions.
Hauerwas's writings, principally in essay form due to their occasional nature, tend to eschew the more traditional systematic treatments of theological topics and critics await a more systematic defense of his position. (Hauerwas's recent Gifford lectures, just published by Brazos Press as With the Grain of the Universe:The Church’s Witness and Natural Theology, will probably shed more light on this issue.) In this case, we must read other authors' treatments of his work or else we are referred by Hauerwas to other writers.
"My views about these matters are exactly put by David Novak in his characterization of how Jews should understand the significance of historical research. He notes that historical research cannot be rejected out of hand, any more than natural science can, without "the worldly weight of the Bible being simultaneously surrendered and the Jewish readers of the Bible being relegated to the status of obscurantists. The Bible within our tradition, where it is the primary source of truth, is also found in other contexts. This has been demonstrated convincingly by modern historical means. And the doctrine of creation surely implies that there is truth in the wider world, however subordinate it must be to the truth of revelation."" Stanley Hauerwas, "Introduction: Theological Interventions and Interrogations" in Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth-Century Theology and Philosophy. Radical Traditions. (Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1997) p. 19 n. 15. He is quoting David Novak, The Election of Israel: The Idea of a Chosen People. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Help in McClendon?
I argue that much of the needed help may be found in the work of James McClendon, Jr., another "neo-Anabaptist" writer, who has produced a three-volume Systematic Theology -- which Hauerwas largely endorses -- that deals with issues of 'creation' along with theological ethics and a theology of culture. Although not having the same profile as Hauerwas's provocative writings, McClendon's work could turn out to be at least of equal value in the long-term due to its detail (and possibly its irenic tone).
McClendon’s treatment of ‘creation’ issues will be treated in relation to the three volumes of his Systematic Theology.
1. Ethics -- McClendon’s account of Christian ethics entails a three-strand model, incorporating the body (‘creation’?) strand, social strand, and "anastatic" (revelation) strand. Discussion of the interrelationship of the three strands will show how treatment of the body/’creation’ strand alone does not allow us to make any substantive judgements, yet has an important place
2. Doctrine -- McClendon’s account of "Creation and Suffering" does not form a ‘foundational’ place in his systematic presentation but rather occurs within the context of his discussion of the ‘Rule of God’. In this case, the importance of narrative theology and the interrelatedness of Christian convictions must be examined.
3. Witness -- McClendon’s articulation of a theology of culture rooted in Christian witness rather than a ‘secular’ account calls into question popular moves at ‘critical’ correlation. Further, the execution of this theology of culture mounts a strong counter-example to the ‘against-culture’ stereotype.
McClendon's treatment of 'creation' will be examined in connection with his 'postmodern' narrative theology and his philosophical work on "convictions", seeing how these interrelate and contribute to a positive engagement with wider culture, exemplified in his own work (and also in other allied projects of other "Neo-Anabaptists" such as Duane Friesen and Glen Stassen).
Of particular interest is the relationship in McClendon (and Hauerwas) between 'general' philosophical claims and 'specific' theological convictions: or, in McClendon's case, how do his 'baptist' theological convictions enable his 'general theory' of convictions. In this general/particular relationship, four figures are likely to be very important:
These will be significant for an understanding of the limitations of general theory and of the real contributions to ethics and epistemology of a "doctrine of creation".
A critical comparison between these "culturally engaged" neo-Anabaptists and their critics leads us to ask about the rhetorical function of appeals to the ‘doctrine of creation’ which are apparently intended to designate those such as Hauerwas and McClendon as separatist, sectarian and fideistic. We must also examine what 'positive' intention is conveyed by the affirmation of a "doctrine of creation" as well as this rhetorical strategy concerning its "strength".
It must then be asked whether these intentions can be fulfilled more coherently by McClendon's and/or Hauerwas’s "neo-Anabaptist" approach. A more positive "Neo-Anabaptist" proposal may well be achieved through the critical appropriation of the work of three recent communitarian thinkers:
1. ‘Thick’ and ‘thin’ moral language: Michael Walzer
While contemporary debates over ‘truth’ and ‘justice’ at an intense philosophical level tend to emphasies the differences, Michael Walzer’s Thick and Thin draws attention to the agreement in language at other levels of public discourse. Our question then is whether this kind of commonality is due to a thin, minimal moral content, perhaps rooted in ‘nature’ or ‘creation’, or an overlapping of thicker concepts. This discussion relates to recent debates concerning the ‘use’ of the Bible in ‘public’ ethics and the strategy which would ‘translate’ Christian convictions into ‘values’ or ‘principles’ often in the name of a ‘doctrine of creation’ for the sake of effectiveness in issues of wider social concern.
2. Moral philosophy and theological vision: Charles Taylor
In Charles Taylor’s monumental Sources of the Self, Taylor criticises the philosophical approach to morality he terms "naturalism". Taylor is critical of the denial of the "inescapable frameworks" of meaning which give sense to and constitute the moral-social-cultural domain. While Taylor’s book sought to give a narrative of the making of the "modern identity" that included theological thought, the explicit role of Christian convictions was largely implicit in Taylor’s own approach. The concluding remarks regarding the importance of a Judeo-Christian theism raised the question of the question of the role of these convictions all the more. Taylor’s Gifford Lectures, "Living in a Secular Age" may well provide important insight into relation between philosophising for a ‘wide’ audience and the convictions of a particular minority community. His recent Marianist lectures on "A Catholic Modernity?" also articulate his theological vision.
3. Historicist philosophy and ‘human nature’: Alasdair MacIntyre
Alasdair MacIntyre is best known for his After Virtue which emerged in the early eighties as a devastating critique of the "Enlightenment Project", the attempt to ground morality in reason alone without recourse to the social context of human practices. While the relativistic aspects of MacIntyre’s subsequent work have often been stressed, the idea of a search for a rationally defensible human telos also needs to be emphasised. Considering MacIntyre’s influence on Hauerwas, along with his appearance in McClendon’s ethics, it is important to come to terms with his understanding of ‘nature’ (creation?), especially in light of his return to ‘Augustinian’ Christianity via Catholicism, and his interpretations of Aristotle and Aquinas. His most recent work, Dependent Rational Animals may be important here.
Issue 1: "The Epistemological Temptation" or "The Temptation to Be Epistemological"
The Problems of Knowledge or the Problem of Epistemology?
Contemporary crisis in Epistemology
The Postmodern World - Rorty, Lyotard
Is there really a problem in knowledge? Or the theory of knowledge?
Scientific knowledge as a test case -- crisis in science or the philosophy of science?
Ethics as eschatological vocation rather than ontological/creational unfolding
The Rhetorical Nature of Methodological Discourse
Ethical commonality as goal
The Scandal of Particularity
The Accusation of 'Sectarianism'
The Ostensible Divisiveness of Commitment
The Example of John Howard Yoder
On the Freedom of Unbelief
Yoder's move through, past and beyond theory
History as the story of God's vocation for creation
What Place for Epistemology?
The relation between epistemology and hermeneutics
Epistemology as second-order reflection on investigative-reflective-communicative practices
Issue 2: From "Creation" to "Nature": "Why Reformational Political Philosophy Sounds Like Liberalism -- And How Liberalism Shows the Limits of 'Creational' Theology"
Creation as Context
"Freedom within a form"
Freedom of unbelief
Enlightenment political thinking as "creational" thinking
Theology and the "state of nature" - stripping back history
History as the story of God's vocation for creation
Ethics as Vocation
Ethics as eschatological vocation rather than ontological/creational unfolding
Eschatological ethics are not contrary to creation (as context for varied action)
Resurrection as transformation and future of creation
(Eschaton as context which does not allow certain forms of action)
Spirit
Trinitarian (economic?)
(Paradigm change?)
Universalities and Pluralisms
Ethical commonality as common memory rather than universal dictum
Limits of Habermasian or Rawlsian theory
Stage 3. Constructive Proposal and a Specific task -- Exploring a Theological, Ecclesiocentric Approach to Technology and Material Culture.
"Toward a Neo-Anabaptist Philosophy and Theology of Technology and Material Culture." (Ph.D)
Integrating the work of philosophers and theorists of technology such as Richard Sennett, Albert Borgmann and Langdon Winner with an ecclesiocentric public theology incorporating issues of eschatology, creation, culture and the "sense of place".
Issue 1: "The Epistemological Temptation" or "The Temptation to Be Epistemological"
The Problems of Knowledge or the Problem of Epistemology?
Contemporary crisis in Epistemology
The Postmodern World - Rorty, Lyotard
Is there really a problem in knowledge? Or the theory of knowledge?
Scientific knowledge as a test case -- crisis in science or the philosophy of science?
Ethics as eschatological vocation rather than ontological/creational unfolding
The Rhetorical Nature of Methodological Discourse
Ethical commonality as goal
The Scandal of Particularity
The Accusation of 'Sectarianism'
The Ostensible Divisiveness of Commitment
The Example of John Howard Yoder
On the Freedom of Unbelief
Yoder's move through, past and beyond theory
History as the story of God's vocation for creation
What Place for Epistemology?
The relation between epistemology and hermeneutics
Epistemology as second-order reflection on investigative-reflective-communicative practices
Issue 2: From "Creation" to "Nature": "Why Reformational Political Philosophy Sounds Like Liberalism -- And How Liberalism Shows the Limits of 'Creational' Theology"
Creation as Context
"Freedom within a form"
Freedom of unbelief
Enlightenment political thinking as "creational" thinking
Theology and the "state of nature" - stripping back history
History as the story of God's vocation for creation
Ethics as Vocation
Ethics as eschatological vocation rather than ontological/creational unfolding
Eschatological ethics are not contrary to creation (as context for varied action)
Resurrection as transformation and future of creation
(Eschaton as context which does not allow certain forms of action)
Spirit
Trinitarian (economic?)
(Paradigm change?)
Universalities and Pluralisms
Ethical commonality as common memory rather than universal dictum
Limits of Habermasian or Rawlsian theory
"My views about these matters are exactly put by David Novak in his characterization of how Jews should understand the significance of historical research. He notes that historical research cannot be rejected out of hand, any more than natural science can, without "the worldly weight of the Bible being simultaneously surrendered and the Jewish readers of the Bible being relegated to the status of obscurantists. The Bible within our tradition, where it is the primary source of truth, is also found in other contexts. This has been demonstrated convincingly by modern historical means. And the doctrine of creation surely implies that there is truth in the wider world, however subordinate it must be to the truth of revelation."" Stanley Hauerwas, "Introduction: Theological Interventions and Interrogations" in Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth-Century Theology and Philosophy. Radical Traditions. (Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1997) p. 19 n. 15. He is quoting David Novak, The Election of Israel: The Idea of a Chosen People. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)