Revelation and Reason : Prolegomena to Systematic Theology [1 ed.] 9780567350466, 9780567033550

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R EVELATION AND R EASON

Colin Ewart Gunton 1941–2003

R EVELATION AND R EASON PROLEGOMENA TO SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY Colin E. Gunton

Transcribed and Edited by P. H. BRAZIER

Published by T&T Clark A Continuum imprint The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Copyright © Paul Brazier, 2008 !"" roy'"t)e+ ,o to the .o")/ 01/to/ Memor)'" 41/5 't 6)/,7+ .o""e,e 8o/5o/ British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Typeset and graphics by P. H. Brazier

Printed and bound in the U. S. A.

ISBN-10:

0567033554 0567033562

(hardback) (paperback)

ISBN-13:

9780567033550 9780567033567

(hardback) (paperback)

R EVELATION AND R EASON PROLEGOMENA TO SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY PART ONE : FROM REASON AND REVELATION TO REVELATION AND REASON CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE AND SYSTEMIZATION SUBJECTIVITY AND OBJECTIFICATION REVELATION, MEDIATION AND SCRIPTURE

PART TWO : THE MODERN PROBLEM IN AN HISTORICAL CONTEXT CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6

REVELATION AND REASON, THEOLOGY AND INSPIRATION AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1: APOCALYPSIS ET RATIO AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 2: THE TRIUMPH OF REASON?

PART THREE : ASPECTS OF KARL BARTH ON FAITH AND REASON CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9

BARTH: THEOLOGICAL SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AFTER KANT BARTH: REVELATION AND REASON 1 – A THEOLOGY OF DEMOLITION? BARTH: REVELATION AND REASON 2 – A THEOLOGY OF CONSTRUCTION?

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CONTENTS

Tables and Graphics

xiii

Foreword P. H. Brazier

xv

Introduction Stephen R. Holmes

1

PART ONE : FROM REASON AND REVELATION TO REVELATION AND REASON CHAPTER 1

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE AND SYSTEMIZATION 1. Revelation and Reason i. Systematic Theology ii. Kierkegaard 2. The Christian Claims to Knowledge i. Between Gnosis and Doubt ii. Aspects of Biblical Teaching iii. Knowledge of the Heart iv. Towards a Theological Synthesis v. The Incarnational Ground of Knowledge Claims vi. The Ecclesial Dimension vii. An Uncomfortable Observation 3. Early Examples of Systematic Theologians i. Irenaeus of Lyons ii. Origen 4. Revelation 5. Foundationalism i. Evidentialism: Grounding in the Prior, the External ii. Locke, Schleiermacher and Torrance – Foundationalists?

12 12 13 14 16 16 18 20 21 22 26 27 28 28 30 31 32 33 35

viii

Revelation and Reason: Prolegomena to Systematic Theology iii. Danger of Projectionalism iv. Foundationalism as Externalism v. Biblical Epistemologists 6. Revelation and Foundationalism

36 37 37 39

CHAPTER 2

SUBJECTIVITY AND OBJECTIFICATION 1. John Locke i. Epistemology ii. Faith and Reason iii. Foundationalism and Defence iv. Subjectivism and Enthusiasm v. Christ and Reason 2. T. F. Torrance i. Theological Science ii. God as the Object? 3. Hans Urs von Balthasar and Theological Aesthetics i. The Third Transcendental ii. The Priority of the Objective over the Subjective iii. Abstract Isolation iv. Beauty Is True and Good 4. Karl Rahner: Revelation and Transcendentality i. Transcendence ii. John Hick and Universal Religiosity iii. The Nature–Grace Dichotomy iv. Categorical Revelation v. Vatican II: Revelation and other Religions vi. Incarnation and Language: adaequatio vii. The Problem with Transcendentality as Revelation viii. The Concrete Reality of Revelation

41 41 41 43 45 46 48 49 49 49 51 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63

CHAPTER 3

REVELATION, MEDIATION AND SCRIPTURE 1. Concepts of Revelation 2. Scripture as an Eschatological Concept i. Eschatology ii. Pannenberg 3. Revelation in General 4. Revelation as a Religious Category 5. Revelation as a Theological Category i. Medieval Notions of Revealed Truth ii. The Bible as Revealed Truth 6. The Problem of Mediation 7. Scriptural Examples 8. Revelation and Relationship i. Varieties of Mediation

64 64 64 64 66 69 70 71 71 72 72 73 76 76

Contents ii. Revelation, Mediation and Relationship iii. Mediation: the Text iv. How Does Scripture Mediate? v. Relationship and Community 9. Propositional and Non-Propositional Revelation? i. Lindbeck and the Nature of Doctrinal Statements ii. Revelation as a Non-Propositional Cultural-Linguistic Theory iii. Propositional Language and Revelation

ix 77 78 81 84 85 85 87 89

PART TWO : THE MODERN PROBLEM IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT CHAPTER 4

REVELATION AND REASON, THEOLOGY AND INSPIRATION 1. The Problem of Revelation i. Categories of Revelation ii. A Realized Eschatology? 2. The Second Vatican Council i. A Rule of Faith ii. Dei verbum iii. Tradition 3. Personal or Propositional i. A Deposit of Faith? ii. Creeds and Councils? 4. Inspiration i. Inspiration and Humanity ii. ‘Word’ and ‘word’ 5. Reason and Theology i. A Functional Concept of Reason ii. An Ontological Concept of Reason 6. Romans

92 92 92 93 95 95 96 96 99 99 100 101 101 102 103 103 104 105

CHAPTER 5

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1: APOCALYPSIS ET RATIO 1. Early Medieval i. Introduction ii. The Medieval Mindset iii. Philo iv. Boethius 2. Anselm: fides quaerens intellectum i. The Oneness of Truth ii. Anselm’s Understanding of ‘Proof’ in Theology iii. What is Reason in Theology?

108 108 108 108 109 110 111 112 113 114

x

Revelation and Reason: Prolegomena to Systematic Theology

CHAPTER 6

iii. The Status of Anselm’s Definition iv. Theology and Prayer 3. Duns Scotus and Ockham i. Duns Scotus ii. Ockham

115 116 117 117 117

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 2: THE TRIUMPH OF REASON? 1. Thomas Aquinas i. Scientia ii. Epistemological Anxieties iii. Fallenness iv. Christian Doctrine v. Foundationalist? 2. Reformation and Enlightenment i. Introduction ii. Luther and Calvin iii. The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment 3. René Descartes i. A Theistic Defence? ii. fallo ergo sum and cogito ergo sum iii. The Primacy of Reason iv. Philosophers as Theologians: Reason or Revelation? v. Is Descartes a Catholic Thinker? 4. The Nineteenth Century

120 120 120 121 122 124 125 126 126 126 127 128 128 129 130 132 134 136

PART THREE : ASPECTS OF KARL BARTH ON FAITH AND REASON CHAPTER 7

BARTH: THEOLOGICAL SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AFTER KANT 1. Introduction 2. Immanuel Kant: Reason Without Revelation i. Barth on Kant ii. Religion Within the Bounds of Reason Alone iii. The Critiques of Reason and Judgement iv. The Power of Reason and Philosophical Ethics v. What Is Theologically Possible? 3. A Fundamentally Kantian Framework: Ritschlian i. Moralistic Bourgeois Culture ii. The Breakdown of Ritschlianism 4. Extending the Kantian Framework: Schleiermachian i. Schleiermacher’s Response to Kant ii. A Religion of Feeling?

140 140 140 140 141 142 143 144 145 145 146 147 148 149

Contents

xi

iii. A Feuerbachian Critique 150 5. An Alternative Kantian Framework: Hegelian 150 i. Salvation by Reason? 151 ii. Truth as Movement 151 6. Hegelian Dialectics and Eschatological Pantheism? 152 i. The Drive for Unity 153 ii. Pantheism or Panentheism: Does God Need the World? 154 iii. Truth: Universal or Particular 155 iv. The Relationship of Reason and Revelation in Hegel 156 v. Hegel: Christianizing or Gnosticizing? 157 CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

BARTH: REVELATION AND REASON 1 – A THEOLOGY OF DEMOLITION? 1. Introduction 2. The First Phase: Destructive i. Herrmannian Immediacy ii. Safenwil: the Political Barth 3. Barth: Der Römerbrief 4. Barth and Schleiermacher i. Revelation as Relational Dependence ii. Revelation as Experiential Non-Dogmatic iii. Revelation as Feeling 5. Existentialism: Bultmann and Heidegger i. A Personal Existential Revelation? ii. Bultmann and the Cross iii. Demythologizing Revelation? iv. Krisis

159 159 160 160 161 163 166 166 166 168 168 169 169 170 171

BARTH: REVELATION AND REASON 2 – A THEOLOGY OF CONSTRUCTION? 1. Introduction 2. The Second Phase: Constructive i. Content Led ii. ‘Schicksal und Idee’ iii. Theology and Philosophy 3. Barth on Anselm i. The Ontological Argument ii. Barth on Reason in Anselm 4. Barth and Brunner on Natural Theology 5. The Word of God i. God Reveals Himself as the Lord ii. Actuality Implies Possibility 6. Christ Jesus: The Word of God Revealed i. The Word of God Revealed

173 173 173 173 175 176 176 177 180 181 184 184 185 185 186

xii

Revelation and Reason: Prolegomena to Systematic Theology ii. The Word of God Written iii. Human Proclamation 7. Conclusion: Barth on Revelation and Reason i. Preached: Barth’s Doctrine of Proclamation ii. Written: Barth’s Doctrine of Scripture iii. Revealed: The Event of Salvation iv. Barth Proclaims Jesus as Revelation

186 186 186 187 188 188 189

Course C401 Revelation and Reason and a Session of the Research Institute for Systematic Theology, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London, from which this material was transcribed

191

Appendix

Bibliography I.

Revelation and Reason – Related Works Books Articles and Essays II. Karl Barth – Church Dogmatics III. Colin E. Gunton: A Chronological Bibliography of Works 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

193 193 204 207 208 208 209 211 215

I. Index of Names II. Index of Subjects

219 222

Index

TABLES AND GRAPHICS

Frontispiece

Colin Ewart Gunton 1941–2003

ii

Figure 1

A Kierkegaardian Reservation

15

Figure 2

The Christological Limits on Knowledge

23

Figure 3

The Revelation of God

24

Figure 4

Origen’s System

30

Figure 5

Locke’s Three Concepts of Reason

48

Figure 6

Torrance and Objectivity

50

Figure 7

Hans Urs von Balthasar – The Three Transcendentals

51

Figure 8

The Objective has Priority over the Subjective

53

Figure 9

A General Anthropological Analysis-Reality

57

Figure 10

Revelation is Incarnation, Incarnation is Revelation

61

Figure 11

Torrance, Barth and Ritschl

68

Figure 12

Varieties of Mediation

77

Figure 13

Mediation

82

Figure 14

Propositional Statements

86

Figure 15

Propositional Language and Revelation

89

Figure 16

Concepts of Mediation

92

Figure 17

Revelation and Time

93

Figure 18

Resurrection for Pannenberg and Barth

94

Figure 19

Revelation as an Act and an Event

98

Figure 20

Inspiration and Humanity

101

Figure 21

Concepts of Reason

103

Figure 22

Knowledge of God: The Opposing Poles

107

Figure 23

An Augustinian Graeco–Hebrew synthesis

109

xiv

Revelation and Reason: Prolegomena to Systematic Theology

Figure 24

The Epistemological Framework

110

Figure 25

The Oneness of Truth

112

Figure 26

Anselm of Canterbury on Reason

114

Figure 27

Ockham: on the Impossibility of the Proofs of God

118

Figure 28

God is Not the Problem

124

Figure 29

A Schleiermachian Hierarchy of Theological Statement

148

Figure 30

Barth’s Critique of Hegel

152

Figure 31

Pantheism or Panentheism: Does God Need the World?

154

Figure 32

Hegel’s Divine Anthropology

157

Figure 33

A Schleiermachian Paradox

160

Figure 34

Barth’s Dynamic and Transcendent Eschatology

163

Figure 35

A Schleiermachian–Feuerbachian Critique

167

Figure 36

Barth – Rationality

167

Figure 37

Theology: Form and Content

174

Figure 38

‘Schicksal und Idee’

175

Figure 39

A Philosophy–Theology Dialectic

178

Figure 40

The Anselmian Principle

178

Figure 41

Barth on Reason in Anselm

179

Figure 42

The Epistemological Priority of God

179

Figure 43

Barth, Brunner and Natural Theology

183

Figure 44

Barth: Religion, Law and Natural Theology

183

Figure 45

Barth: The Word of God Revealed

185

FOREWORD This is a work based on tape recordings of a seminar programme for MA students given by Professor Colin Gunton at King’s College, London (the recordings – for personal study – were made in the Michaelmas terms of 1999 and 2000: this programme is listed in the appendix). The aim of the course was to turn those attending from being students into theologians: men and women with a critical ability to lay out what constitutes the intellectual content of the Christian faith, and, to a degree, to develop the ability to answer the questions and doubts that are so often thrown at Christianity not just by the faithful – the often puzzled faithful – but also from detractors of various belief systems, particularly self-confessed atheists from the academy (usually philosophers and scientists, university dons, who repudiate and deny all religion, but are blind to the religious beliefs – often pagan atheistic religious beliefs and ethics – that they espouse with a fundamental certainty that beggars belief). The course was not about apologetics; neither was it primarily about theological history: the objective was in many ways to be able to explicate, to lay out, illuminate and elucidate in as systematic and methodical a way as possible, what constitutes the Christian faith and how it coheres. In this Colin Gunton did not compromise with modernity or postmodernity! This book is in some ways about the relationship of theology and the Christian faith with modernity/postmodernity. This book represents Colin Gunton’s profound insights into the nature of theology through a consideration of faith, Revelation and reason; the material is from prepared lectures and extemporary material from discussions. This material is a unique insight into Colin Gunton’s highly valued and original style of teaching which here exhibits profound understanding and reflection upon God’s Revelation and humanity’s use of reason. Colin Gunton was a worldrenowned scholar, systematic theologian and Reformed Church minister. Approximately one-third of the work is a direct transcript and analysis of the three lectures Colin Gunton gave at a breakneck speed at the beginning of the course each year, each was of two hours duration: 1. ‘From Reason and Revelation to Revelation and Reason’; 2. ‘The Modern Problem in an Historical Context’; 3. ‘Aspects of Karl Barth on Faith and Reason’. These lectures were a

xvi

Revelation and Reason: Prolegomena to Systematic Theology

history, analysis and critique of Revelation and reason in systematic theology and philosophy, culminating with Karl Barth. These three lectures form the titles and contents of the three parts of this book; each lecture is subdivided into three chapters and expanded with material that is a transcript of the unrehearsed, unscripted, extemporary responses Colin Gunton gave to MA students’ papers on set topics in the course, seamlessly integrated, where relevant, with the material from the main three lectures. For example, Colin Gunton’s response to a paper on John Locke is integrated into Chapter 2; responses to a paper on Von Balthasar are also integrated into Chapter 2; material on Frei and Lindbeck, Chapter 3; Hegel, Chapter 7; Barth and Schleiermacher, Chapter 8; Barth and Brunner on natural theology, Chapter 9, and so forth. Many of these student papers appeared superficially to be satisfactory, but Colin Gunton was merciless at exposing any flaws and faults in the research or argument presented: the students were on a steep learning curve! Although Colin Gunton would not have made a politically correct, liberal, humanist infant school teacher – thank God – he was kindness itself if a student could concede the perceived flaw/fault. Credit must, therefore, be given to the anonymous students (note, none of the material from the students’ papers is included here) who provided the stimulus and trigger for Colin’s mind to generate relevant material, facts, ideas, from a variety of theologians and philosophers, make links/connections, pursue several lines of argument – all at once – and present as tight and logically coherent an argument as was possible. He would also congratulate a student and concede a point when appropriate! Colin Gunton presented a paper entitled, ‘I Know that My Redeemer Lives: A Consideration of Christian Knowledge Claims’ to the Research Institute in Systematic Theology at King’s on the morning of 28 September 1999, the day the MA course transcribed here started in the afternoon. This is an early version of a paper that was published in a volume of essays by T&T Clark a year later (Intellect and Action: Elucidations on Christian Theology and the Life of Faith, reissued by Continuum in 2005). This material was highly relevant, and indeed was discussed during the first MA session that afternoon, and is here integrated into Chapter 1 (§. 2 The Christian Claims to Knowledge, §§. i–vii: Gunton scholars might want to compare this material with the published version to see how Colin’s ideas developed as a result of the questions and discussion in the seminar). Colin Gunton’s understanding is here presented as systematically as possible, with the use of charts and graphics to give clarity, based on the illustrations he drew on the whiteboard during the seminars. Whether he was lecturing or responding to a seminar discussion, he gave space to the free rein of his mind when analysing a particular strand of a theologian’s thought: he was a creative teacher and a deeply read theologian; this is shown in his

Foreword

xvii

unscripted and extemporary responses to the students’ papers: what drove him was a passion for truth, a love of the God who revealed himself in Christ Jesus – knowledge forged almost as a by-product of our salvation wrought on the Cross. These responses showed the breadth of his learning, and his genius spontaneously to bring to mind relevant ideas from a wealth of theologians and philosophers, while incisively and piercingly exposing the flaws as well as the strengths under consideration. Because it is intended that this book is read not just by postgraduate specialists, I have added explanatory details to key names and movements in references where necessary. Any writer/theologian or book/article referred to by Professor Gunton is referenced, where possible, in the note and linked to the bibliography where all the works Colin cited or referred to however obliquely or explicitly are listed. It is often forgotten by those who read and support Colin’s later work with its heavy emphasis on the unique self-revelation of the one triune God in Christ that originally he graduated in ‘Greats’ from Oxford, and for the first ten years or so at King’s (before he was appointed Professor of Christian Doctrine in the early 1980s) he taught history of philosophy and philosophy of religion: he knew philosophers and their arguments in a way that many theologians – whether Catholic, Reformed or Evangelical – do not. Thereafter Colin Gunton taught the ‘Revelation and Reason’ course to MA students for nearly twenty years. Early on he produced a series of lectures – The 1993 ‘Warfield Lectures’ given at Princeton Theological Seminary – on Revelation and reason, which were published by T&T Clark (A Brief Theology of Revelation, reissued by Continuum in 2005). This was the closest he came to producing a textbook for the course, but he always warned the students the material in this course has changed much since those lectures were given ... and this course changes each year according to the students on the course, but, yes, I would certainly recommend you read that book, but what we say together here, now that’s importantL But it’s more than that; this course is not really about textbooks, it is about reading the actual people – Descartes and Locke, Kant, Schleiermacher and Hegel, Torrance and Barth, all these people who had so much to say about whether theology was possible and how we valued reason, our capacity, you see, to reason things out. Read these people; read them and argue with them.

Therefore, these seminars are essentially an introduction for students and general readers to Colin Gunton’s understanding of reason and Revelation; this topic is important and lies at the heart of theology and the Christian faith. Christoph Schwöbel, commenting on this work, asserted how these seminars are an important engagement with the biblical and doctrinal dimensions of Revelation and reason, and they are a sustained reflection on the philosophical issues involved in the truth-claims of Christian faith. As such Christoph commented that

xviii

Revelation and Reason: Prolegomena to Systematic Theology [They may be seen] as a prominent and inspiring example of engaging the main philosophical positions since the Enlightenment in a dialogue about the claims of reason and the insights of revelation. On the British (and to a certain extent also on the American) scene there is relatively clearly defined division between philosophical analysis and discussion of religious truth claims as it is conducted by philosophers and the theological exposition of the rationality of faith in the context of the church pursued by theologians. In these lectures (and probably because of his philosophical training and early teaching experience as a lecturer in philosophy of religion) Colin has successfully overcome this division with regard to the material he refers to and with regard to the debates he gets involved in. [This is] a courageous attempt at identifying those strands in contemporary discussions (e.g. on foundationalism and postfoundationalism) which clarify general aspects of the relationship of reason and revelation, dealing with them critically in such a way that they open up a constructive approach for Christian theology. [They can be seen] as a further testimony of Colin’s style of doing theology in an important field which, because of his early death, was never fully espoused in his writing ... I would see the lectures both as a complement and counterpoint to The Barth Lectures. (Generally speaking, people who would claim to be Barthians don’t have much time for engaging with Locke, Kant and, say, Hegel and tend to repeat Barth’s often idiosyncratic statements in Theology of the Nineteenth Century. Colin is a very unusual Barthian in this way. Conversely, the Locke-, Kant- and Hegel-specialists normally have no time for Barth, deterred by his rather fulsome statements about philosophy. Colin’s work is the interesting example of the work of a philosophically interested and competent, Barth-inspired theologian. 1

The material here presented is testimony to one of the greatest British theologians of the late twentieth century. Revelation and Reason is a complementary volume to Colin Gunton’s posthumously published The Barth Lectures (Continuum, 2007), and a true prolegomena to Colin’s unfinished Systematic Theology, which he was working on at the point of his unexpected death, and which is to be published also by Continuum. My acknowledgement and thanks go to Colin himself with whom I had many discussions relating to the nature of theology and philosophy, and therefore Revelation and reason, but also to Colin’s wife, Jenny, and his daughter Sarah, who made me welcome and allowed me to go through Colin’s papers, unearthing much material and understanding which complements the lectures/seminars represented in this book. Paul Brazier July 2008

1

E-mail, Christoph Schwöbel to Paul Brazier, 22 September 2007.

APOCALYPSIS ET RATIO

… let my mind meditate on you, let my tongue speak of you, let my heart love you, let my soul hunger for you … until I enter into the joy of the lord, who is God, Three in One, blessed for ever. ANSELM OF CANTERBURY PROSLOGION

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