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Volume 19, Number 2, June 2006

Contents, Abstracts, Notes on Contributors

Articles 

ANNE HUNT
Back to a Way Forward:
Jacques Dupuis' Trinitarian Christology and the Invisible Missions of the Word and Spirit 125

Abstract: Jacques Dupuis' book, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, drew an enormous response from theologians, some of them very concerned by Dupuis’ argument in terms of the universal presence and action of the Word and Spirit as "extending beyond" that of the risen incarnate Word, and his insistence that "a divine action of the Word as such remains, which extends beyond the human action of the risen Christ". The aim of this essay is to examine the distinctly trinitarian elements of Dupuis' argument, in the light of the classical teachings regarding Trinity and Christology, for it is on the basis of his "trinitarian christology" that Dupuis grounds his theology of religious pluralism. The author argues that, while Dupuis' "trinitarian christology" points the way to a more positive appreciation of the salvific efficacy of non-Christian religions, he has confused rather than advanced an understanding of the operation of Word and Spirit in regard to non-Christian religions. The author argues that the classical notion of the divine missions, visible and invisible, a strange omission from Dupuis' argument, would facilitate the case he seeks to make, avoid some of the ambiguities that dog his case, and mute the key concerns which have been raised by reviewers.

Abstract: The author aims to examine Augustine's understanding of the literal and figurative approaches to interpreting scripture, using a single verse, Gen 1:26, as a lens to view his changing understanding of what "literal" meant over the course of thirty years of commentaries on the book of Genesis. In his earlier commentaries, he seeks to redeem the verse from the Manichaean charge of anthropomorphism by giving it an allegorical reading. Some years later, now ordained and on the road to being made a bishop, Augustine attempts a literal reading in the Incomplete Commentary on Genesis. In the complete Literal Commentary on Genesis 3.19, he furnishes a Trinitarian reading of "Let us make humankind to our image and likeness". By the completion of his great manual on exegesis, De doctrina christiana, he displays a more complex attitude towards the interpretation of scripture: the reader has to determine whether a verse is meant literally or figuratively (or both).

Abstract: The infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke pose in an acute form the question of the historical value of the Gospels. Raymond Brown suggests that redaction criticism can bypass this question by spelling out the theological message intended by the evangelists. But his own exegesis suggests this is to misunderstand the genre of this literature. Brown's indifference to historicity would be justified only if the evangelists were writing something resembling allegory, a form of narrative in which the literal sense of the story is the (dispensable) clothing of a spiritual message. But Brown's exegesis suggests that the evangelists do not regard the literal sense of these stories as dispensable; they regard their theological message as resting on a foundation of historical fact. It follows that if interpreters focus on the intention of the evangelists, they cannot avoid addressing the question of historicity.

Abstract: New Zealand is often defined as a pre-eminently secular country: in Kendrich Smithyman's words, as "a land without presence". We need to define much more precisely what we mean by this, and distinguish secularisation, the process, from secularism, the ideology. Parallel with the collapse of Christendom, after all, there is a new quest for "spirituality", and a stubborn refusal of religion to die out. New Zealand’s main-line historiographical tradition, as well as strong currents in media and politics, has tended to write religion out of the national story. This is partly due to a nationalist, or secularist bias, but it also reflects a real hermeneutical problem. In recent years a strong archival, bibliographical, microhistorical case has been built for the inter-penetration of the sacred and the secular in this country's bicultural life and history. Accordingly we need to review crude dichotomies of the sacred and the secular. The topography of discourse about religion requires re-charting, and attention should be paid to new manifestation of religion in the formation of national identity. The issue is far from an academic one; ecological issues, for example, point to the urgency of a fresh dialogue, historical and theological, about the relationship between the secular and the sacred.

Abstract: The author argues - on theological, christological, biblical and historical grounds - that Christian faith must be seriously interested in the formation and implementation of human rights. After pointing to three fundamental temptations that faith has always encountered - withdrawal, accommodation and violence - the author shows that faith in Christ is not only passionately concerned with what is going on in the world, but that it also can make a positive contribution to shaping a fair and open society. Thereby Christians contribute to the world-wide soft revolution that trusts in freedom, peace and justice, rather than security and fear.

Notes on Contributors

ANNE HUNT is a lecturer in systematic theology at Australian Catholic University and at Yarra Theological Union (Melbourne) and Rector of the Ballarat Campus of Australian Catholic University. She is the author of several books and articles, most recently The Trinity: Nexus of the Mysteries of Christian Faith (Orbis, 2005).

BRONWEN NEIL is the Burke Lecturer in Ecclesiastical Latin at the Centre for Early Christian Studies, Australian Catholic University. She is currently working on an Australian Research Council funded project investigating poverty in late antiquity.

GREGORY DAWES is a senior lecturer in Religious Studies and in Philosophy at the University of Otago. He has written several books, his most recent being The Historical Jesus Question: The Challenge of History to Religious Authority. He is currently working on a philosophical evaluation of "intelligent design theory" and is bothered by the question: Do religious explanations really explain?

PETER MATHESON has taught the history of Christianity in Edinburgh and Otago Universities, and was Principal of the Uniting Church's Theological Hall in Melbourne 1999-2004; he is a Research Fellow of the United Faculty of Theology, Melbourne, and a Research Associate in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Otago University.

THORWALD LORENZEN, until recently the Senior Minister of the Canberra Baptist Church, is currently Professor of Theology and Principal Researcher with St Mark's Theological Centre, Canberra, and Charles Sturt University. He was for twenty years professor of Systematic Theology and Social Ethics at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and a member of the Human Rights Commission of the Baptist World Alliance. His publications include Resurrection - Discipleship - Justice: Affirming the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Today (2003).