New Frontiers in Theologyy II - The New Hermeneutic.

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NEW FRONTIERS IN' THEOLOGY Discussions amor^ Continental and American Theologians

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James M. Robinson and John B. Cobb, Jr.

The New Hermeneutic A dialogue on a creative new departure in Christian thought, uniting Biblical interpretation with contemporary theology

$5.00

The second volume in a pioneering series

THE NEW HERMENEUTIC JAMES M. ROBINSON and JOHN B. COBB, Jr., Editors

This skillfully integrated volume presents a trans-Atlantic dialogue on a fundamental issue in contemporary theology. The debate centers around the radical and profound proposal to establish a new basis for systematic theology and a new link between re­ ligious thought and the humanities at large. The key to this proposal lies in a new appreciation and reappraisal of hermeneutics—the science of interpret­ ing Scripture. The distinguished German scholars, Gerhard Ebeling and Ernst Fuchs, take a major stride forward in their “focal

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NEW FRONTIERS IN THEOLOGY Discussions among Continental and American Theologians

Volume II

The New Hermeneutic Edited by James M. Robinson • John B. Cobb, Jr. Southern California School of Theology at Claremont

HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS New York, Evanston, and London

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Fortress Press for permis­ sion to reprint “Word of God and Hermeneutic” from Word and Faith by Gerhard Ebeling, translated by James W. Leitch.

Copyright © 1964 by James M. Robinson. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written per­ mission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated, 49 East 33rd Street, New York 16, N.Y. THE NEW hermeneutic.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER:

64-14380

CONTENTS vii

Foreword to the Series

ix

Editors’ Preface I. The Issue i. Hermeneutic Since Barth

James M. Robinson

1

FOCAL ESSAYS

2. Word of God and Hermeneutic Gerhard Ebeling 3. The New Testament and the Hermeneutical Problem Ernst Fuchs

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111

II. American Discussion 4. On Broadening the New Hermeneutic John Dillenberger 147 5. The Hermeneutical Problem and Historical Criticism Robert W. Funk 164 6. The Word as Address and the Word as Meaning Amos N. Wilder 198 III. Reappraisal and Response 7. Faith and Culture John B. Cobb, Jr. 8. Response to the American Discussion Ernst Fuchs

219 232

NEW

FRONTIERS

IN THEOLOGY

I. The Later Heidegger

and

Theology

Contributors: Heinrich Ott Arnold B. Come Carl Michalson Schubert M. Ogden

IL The New Hermeneutic

Contributors: Gerhard Ebeling Ernst Fuchs John Dillenberger Robert W. Funk Amos N. Wilder

III. Theology as History (in preparation)

Contributors: Wolfhart Pannenberg William Hamilton Kendrick Grobel Martin J. Buss

Foreword to the Series Continental, and especially German, theology has played a lead­ ing role in the creative theological thinking of modem times. American theology has shown a characteristic openness to hear­ ing, adapting, and assimilating the significant movements of European theology. As long as this relationship was characterized by a considerable time lag in the translation and introduction in America of theo­ logical trends from the Continent, the American role was of necessity often that of receiving the results of a largely terminated discussion, so that the ensuing American discussion could hardly affect the ongoing discussion abroad. In recent years the greatly increased number of personal contacts among Continental and American theologians, and the steady flow of translations, indi­ cate the possibility of a more direct interaction. This series of “discussions among Continental and American theologians” is intended to provide a means for such a theological interaction. Rather than translating the finished systems of mature scholars, it proposes to identify future trends at the germinal stage of programmatic essays, and by means of critical discussion to share constructively in their development. Accordingly, each volume will present in translation such a programmatic essay—in the present volume, two such essays—introduced by Professor Robinson with an analysis of the situation in which it emerged and in terms of which it has its significance. This will be followed by constructive and critical contributions to the issue by Ameri­ can theologians of promise. Finally, reappraisals of the issue in the light of these American contributions will be presented both by Professor Cobb and by the author of the essay under analysis.

vii

Editors3 Preface The decisions with regard to translational policy discussed in the Preface to Volume I of this Series apply to Volume II as well. That is to say, the equation of existenziell and existenzial with “existential” and “existentialist” respectively, of das Sein and das Seiende with “being” and “beings” respectively, and of geschichtlich and historisch with “historic” and “historical” respec­ tively, has been carried through to the extent that these terms occur. For the present volume one further decision as to trans­ lational policy is of sufficient prominence that its background should be sketched. The German term Hermeneutik, like the terms Logik, Ethik, Asthetik, and Dogmatik, is singular in number. Indeed Heidegger has come to the defense ófTfiis use^oTthe singular in the case of logic, ethics, and aesthetics by construing them as Greek ad­ jectives modifying the unexpressed noun epistěmě, knowledge {Nietzsche, I, 1961, 92). Ebeling has applied this argument to the term dogmatics, which derives from the singular adjective in Protestant orthodoxy’s term theologia dogmatica {Theologie und Verkundigung, 1962, pp. 105-109). Plato refers (Politicus 260D) to (A