Christ and Modernity

David J. Hawkin

Description

In this re–examination of the roots of the relationship between religion and science, David Hawkin focuses on the concept of autonomy as he explores the question: Is there continuity and compatibility between the autonomy that underlies Christian faith and the role of individual freedom in the technological age?

What makes this work particularly valuable is Professor Hawkin’s review of the theological, philosophical, political, psychological, and sociological works that have formed our ideas of the nature of both Christianity and modernity — Reimarus, Strauss, Schweitzer, and Bultmann on the quest for the historical Jesus; Bauer and Turner on Christian faith and practice; Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Darwin, Freud, and Marx on our historicity; Gogarten, Cox, and Bonhoeffer who affirm our autonomy in the technological process; Ellul and George who deny it.

Sujets

• Religión
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 30 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781554586950
• Langue: English

Extrait

SR Supplements / 17
SR SUPPLEMENTS
Volume 17
Christ and Modernity Christian Self-Understanding in a Technological Age
David J. Hawkin
Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion/Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses by Wilfrid Laurier University Press
1985
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Hawkin, David J. Christ and modernity
(SR supplements ; 17) Bibliography: p. ISBN 0-88920-193-5.
I. Christianity - 20th century. 2. Technology - Religious aspects - Christianity. I. Title. II. Series.
BR121.2.H39 1985 261.5 6 C85-099996-0
1985 Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion/ Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses
85 86 87 88 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, orany other means, without written permission from the publisher.
Cover design by Michael Baldwin, MSIAD
Order from: Wilfrid Laurier University Press Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
Printed in the United States of America
To my late father, JOHN WILLIAM, and to my mother, JESSIE
Vivendo, immo moriendo et damnando fit Christianus, non intelligendo, legendo, aut speculando
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
PART I: THE PHENOMENON OF CHRISTIANITY
Chapter One The Origin: Jesus
1. Hermann Samuel Reimarus: Jesus the Revolutionary
2. David Friedrich Strauss: Jesus in Mythical Garb
3. Albert Schweitzer: Jesus the Eschatological Figure
4. Rudolf Bultmann: Jesus the Proclaimer of the Time of Decision
5. The Mysterious Christ
Chapter Two The Development: Belief and Practice in the Early Church
1. Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Development: The Semantic Problem
2. A Point of Departure: The Lex Orandi
3. Development Revisited
4. The Distinctively Christian in the New Testament
5. The Lex Orandi and the Early Christian Style of Life
Conclusion to Part I Understanding the Phenomenon of Christianity
PART II: THE PHENOMENON OF MODERNITY
Chapter Three The Origin: Changing Horizons
1. The Horizon of Suspicion
2. The Horizon of Modernity
Chapter Four The Development: Towards a Technological Future
1. Some Theological Perspectives on Modernity and Christianity
2. A Dissenting View: Technique and the Eclipse of Human Autonomy
Conclusion to Part II Understanding the Phenomenon of Modernity
PART III: CHRIST AND MODERNITY
Chapter Five Some Basic Issues
1. Continuity and Discontinuity in Christianity and Modernity
2. The Autonomy of Humanity
3. Technology and Christianity: Some Biblical Reflections
Conclusion Christian Self-Understanding in a Technological Age
NOTES
Notes to Chapter One
Notes to Chapter Two
Notes to Conclusion to Part I
Notes to Chapter Three
Notes to Chapter Four
Notes to Conclusion to Part II
Notes to Chapter Five
Notes to Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Throughout the writing of this book I have received help from many quarters. I particularly wish to thank Professors C. K. Barrett and B. F. Meyer for their gracious assistance and encouragement, and the Revd. B. A. Mastin, who offered many valuable criticisms and suggestions. To my good friends Kathleen Clarkson and Dr. Katharine Temple I owe a special debt of gratitude for their help and advice in writing the sections on Marx and Ellul. I also wish to thank Professors P. C. Craigie and S. G. Wilson for their help in the initial stages of the work.
The editor of Eglise et Th ologie has kindly granted permission to use extracts from my article A Reflective Look at the Recent Debate on Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christianity, which originally appeared in Eglise et Th ologie 7 (1976), 367-378. These extracts appear in chapter two. Material from pp. 100-102 has appeared in Churchman 99 (1985), pp. 51-56.
To Canada Council I wish to express my gratitude for a Leave Fellowship (no. 451-80-2211), which enabled me to take a sabbatical to work on this book.
Finally, I am most indebted to my wife Eileen not only for her many useful criticisms and suggestions in the course of writing of this book, but also for her invaluable help in preparing the final copy.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using finds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Abbreviations BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands Library BZ Biblische Zeitschrift BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fuer die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fuer die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly ExTim Expository Times ET: English Translation EvTh Evangelische Th ologie EvQ Evangelical Quarterly FRLANT Forschung zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments HarvThR Harvard Theological Review ICC International Critical Commentary JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JournRel Journal of Religion JTS Journal of Theological Studies NovT Novum Testamentum NTS New Testament Studies RB Revue Biblique SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SJTh Scottish Journal of Theology StTh Studia Theologica TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament TS Theological Studies TZ Theologische Zeitschrift ZNW Zeitschrift fuer die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft ZTK Zeitschrift fuer Th ologie und Kirche
Introduction
In 1927 Martin Heidegger published his great work Seinund Zeit in which he thematized technology as the hallmark of the modern age. Since the publication of his book no one has seriously disputed that technology has shaped the contours of modernity. What is disputed is whether the power of technology is salutary. While it is still the prevalent view that the technological enterprise is an endeavour which benefits humanity, there are those who argue that it will ultimately dehumanize us.
For Christians this is a perplexing dispute, as the particular attitude they should take is not at all clear. Some claim that the technological process is inimical to Christianity, while others affirm that it is derived from, and sustained by, an authentic Christian vision of the world. These conflicting views are rooted in differing presuppositions concerning the nature of both Christianity and modernity. In Part I we will deal with the question of the nature of Christianity by examining its origin and development. In Part II we will look at some of the roots of modernity and try to delineate its most important characteristics. Part III will then deal with some of the basic questions which have arisen from our examination of Christianity and modernity. In particular we will attempt to describe those characteristics of modernity which may be accommodated to Christianity and those which may not. A major focus of our discussion will be whether the Christian understanding of human autonomy is compatible with that which underlies modernity. The conclusion will address the question of how, in the light of our discussion, Christians should understand their faith in our technological age.
PART I THE PHENOMENON OF CHRISTIANITY
Chapter One The Origin: Jesus
Christians are so called because they are followers of Jesus Christ, and any discussion of the nature of Christianity must accordingly begin with this fact. Having stated this principle, however, we immediately run into problems. What does it mean to follow Jesus Christ? Does following Jesus simply mean adhering to the principles of his teaching? Does his teaching have any relevance for humanity today? Indeed, do we know exactly what Jesus taught? What is implied by the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord (Phil 2:11)? Does it imply that the Christian has allegiance to more than an historical person? If so, just how important is the historical Jesus for the Christian?
These and related questions have been the key questions of New Testament scholarship for over two hundred years. The two most basic issues revolve around the quest of the historical Jesus and the relation of the historical Jesus to the Christ of faith. The quest of the historical Jesus has been at the forefront of New Testament scholarship ever since the publication in 1778 of Hermann Samuel Reimarus s Vom Zweck Jesu and seiner Juenger. 1 Reimarus challenged the assumption that the Gospels give us an accurate account of the historical Jesus. The publication in 1835-36 of David Friedrich Strauss s Leben Jesu 2 raised the further question of whether the historical Jesus was important for the Christian faith. Strauss challenged the assumption that the Gospels intended history. For Strauss they were not historical; rather they were mythical. In Strauss s view this did not mean that Christianity was discredited, for its true nature was not dependent upon the past particulars of history. Reimarus and Strauss are two pivotal figures in the history of New Testament scholarship, for they posed questions which no one had systematically dealt with before. Albert Schweitzer s Von Reimarus zu Wrede: eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung 3 (1906) was the first work to recognize their true significance. Schweitzer himself greatly contributed to the debate by arguing that Jesus was a figure of his own time and was a stranger to ours. Schweitzer s thesis was that Jesus was an apocalyptic visionary whose outlook and actions had become foreign to us. The greatest New Testament scholar of the modern age, Rudolf Bultmann, attempted to deal with the questions raised by Reimarus, Strauss, and Schweitzer by retranslating the New Testament message into existential categories. It behove