A future for the hermeneutical turn in theology? A historiacal- and systematic-theological investigation of the theology of Edward Schillebeeckx (1914-2009) and its contemporary reception.

The work of Edward Schillebeeckx (1914-2009) marks the transition from a pre-modern (neo-Thomist) to a late-modern (hermeneutical) theology. The aim of this project is both historical-theological and systematic-theological: (a) it intends to carefully trace the hermeneutical turn in Schillebeeckxs work; (b) followed by an investigation into the contemporary relevance of his theology. A duality which characterises Schillebeeckxs approach will serve as a heuristic key for both aims. His work is profoundly informed by two intuitions: the creation-theological (the world is from God) and the hermeneutical (tradition is only to be retrieved appropriately when in relation to the current context). Both intuitions are held together by the notion of the negative contrast experience: experiences of suffering and injustice which reveal, ex negativo, the longing of humankind for integrity and wholeness. These contrast experiences have enabled Schillebeeckx to correlate the contemporary situation with the Christian tradition, in order to arrive at a critical-liberative theology for a late-modern context. More recently, however, this synthesis has been challenged as claiming too much continuity between tradition and context. Whereas one way to deal with this challenge has been to radicalise Schillebeeckxs creation-theological intuition, this project proposes to radicalise the hermeneutical one instead through a reconsideration of the notion of contrast experience.

Keywords:Systematic theology, Hermeneutics, Theological epistemology, History of Church and theology, Theology of culture

Disciplines:Theology and religious studies