Revisiting Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx. Toward a Constructive Combination of Transcendental and Hermeneutical Approaches in Theological Epistemology.

Since modernity, theological epistemology faces the problem of accounting for the universality and particularity of religious truth claims. Modern correlation theologians like Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx addressed this issue from the perspective of universality. Employing newlydeveloped transcendental and hermeneutical approaches in epistemology, they sought to establish a correlation between the Christian tradition and the secular context. But the modern theological project came under pressure with the rise of postmodern thought. The modern focus on universality and continuity was questioned and correlation theology was criticized for being too transcendental and too little hermeneutical. Contemporary theologians, stressing historicity, difference, and plurality, have adopted an epistemological focus on particularity. However, such a radicalization of hermeneutics yields deficient theological epistemologies. On the one hand, anti-modern theologies isolate theological hermeneutics, collapsing into closed particularism and losing the universal dimension of truth. On the other hand, philosophical negative theologies leadto a quasi-transcendental argument, resulting in empty universalism andthe loss of the particular dimension of truth. In line with David Tracy and Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, this project argues that postmodern thinkers abandoned the modern theological project too quickly. Its hypothesis is that an adequate theological epistemology requires a combination of transcendental and hermeneutical elements, as represented in the theologies of Rahner and Schillebeeckx. This research therefore proposesa postmodern retrieval of these authors in order to develop a conception of religious truth that can account for both universality and particularity.

Keywords:Modern theology, Postmodern theology, Epistemology, Rahner, Schillebeeckx

Disciplines:Theology and religious studies

Project type:PhD project