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Prolegomena to a Catholic Theology of God between Heidegger and Postmodernity
Author(s) -
Godzieba Anthony J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the heythrop journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1468-2265
pISSN - 0018-1196
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2265.00109
Subject(s) - postmodernity , postmodernism , mainstream , modernity , philosophy , revelation , incarnation , christian theology , order (exchange) , theology , subject (documents) , catholic theology , epistemology , sociology , finance , library science , computer science , economics
New opportunities for discourse about God have arisen, along with new challenges to the mainstream Catholic theology of God. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, a truly contemporary Catholic theology of God must critically appropriate three ‘events’ which have affected its approach to the subject matter: (1) Heidegger's periodizing critique of ontotheology; (2) the ‘contemporary’ viewed as the arena of contention between modern and postmodern claims; (3) the presence of the Kingdom of God and the revelation of the nature of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ, which alter our understandings of time and being. The present essay sketches a program for an authentically Catholic response to the issues raised by these occurrences, emphasizing the Catholic commitment to incarnation and sacramentality and the necessary effort to retrieve redemptive images of God from modernity, despite the present tendency of some postmodern theologians and philosophers to dismiss aspects of the past as unusable.