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‘We Pray by His Mouth’: Karl Barth, Erving Goffman, and a Theology of Invocation[Note 1. For comments and suggestions, thanks to K. Tanner, P. ...]
Author(s) -
Boulton Matthew
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0025.00152
Subject(s) - invocation , praise , philosophy , catechism , theology , human life , sociology , epistemology , literature , art , humanity
Rereading the opening question of the Westminster Catechism, “What is the chief end of man?”, I contend in this essay that the act of invocation — giving God thanks, praise, and petitions — is the act in and through which human being itself is founded, constituted and achieved. I take important cues from Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics and The Christian Life , and from sociologist Erving Goffman's work on the shifting “footings” involved in everyday interactions. I argue for an account of the human being as a being‐with‐God, human acting as acting‐with‐God, and human salvation as a restoration to the genuine human partner's work — indeed, the true leitourgia — of thanks, praise and petition to God.