The understanding of faith : interpretation and criticism /
Edward Schillebeeckx ; translated [from the Dutch] by N.D. Smith.
- New York : The Seabury Press, 1974.
- xiii, 170 pages ; 23 cm.
Translation of Geloofsverstaan.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The interpretation of the future -- An interpretation of an interpretation -- History and the future -- The future as trascendence -- God's faithfulness -- Eschaton and future -- The context and value of faith-talk -- Realationship with lived experience as criterion for the meaning of theological interpretations -- The doxological character of theological interpretations -- Linguistic criteria -- Structuralism or structural linguistic analysis -- Phenomenological linguistic analysis -- Logical linguistic analysis -- The ontological aspect of language -- Hermeneutic understanding and criteria of meaning in linguistic analysis -- Theological criteria -- Fundamental theological norms -- The criteria for continuity in the orthodox understanding of faith -- The church's teaching in the functioning of these criteria -- Correlation between human question and christian answer -- Reformulation of the question of God -- Problems involved in the correlation -- Indirect experience of the universal validity of christian talk about God -- The new critical theory -- Introductory ideas -- An outline of the 'new critical theory of society' -- The new critical theory and theological hermeneutics -- Preliminary critical remarks -- Theology in correlation with a critical theory
How can a Chrisitan who belives in the ancient message of the kigdom of God understanding this message in the twentieth century? How can he justify his biblical interpretation of reality with regard to modern thought and the legitimate demands of modern thinking. In this important book, one of today's leanding theological hermeneutics. "The whole of hermeneutic science," Schillebeeckx writes, ïs ultimately based on the possibility of mutual understanding or agreement. All that has to be done in hermeneutic process is to remove breakdows of communication. But the breackdown of communication is not easily solved. The solution lies, as the author shows, in a rigorous examination and undesrtanding of what e calls the political dimension of hermeneutics– the necessity for democratic structures within which free argument can gradually come about. Of equal interest is the social dimension– the realization that structures antihetical to free dialogue exist and can be reshaped through new social policy. It is through the study of critical theories of society and political processes, in the light of which these essays were written, that theological hermeneutics can play a key role in bringing together theory and practice in the interpretation of the reality of faith today.