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Systematic theology at the crossroads: Explication of a symbolic universe or contextualization of a redemptive message?
Author(s) -
Nürnberger Klaus
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
dialog
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.114
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1540-6385
pISSN - 0012-2033
DOI - 10.1111/dial.12378
Subject(s) - contextualization , explication , gospel , context (archaeology) , philosophy , faith , eschatology , epistemology , universe , theology , sociology , history , linguistics , physics , interpretation (philosophy) , archaeology , astrophysics
The article compares Ted Peters' and Klaus Nürnberger's approaches in their recently published systematic theologies. Peters retains the traditional symbolic universe, explicating it for “a new era”; Nürnberger treats the evolving tradition as a series of contextualizations that must be replaced with new contextualizations as situations change. The difference and its consequences are demonstrated in the cases of the concept of God, eschatology, and the content of the gospel. At stake is the validity of the tradition on the one hand and the plausibility of the Christian faith in a modern context on the other.