In his classic work Method in Theology, Bernard Lonergan left many questions unanswered in regard to his treatment of systematics. In What Is Systematic Theology? Robert M. Doran attempts to articulate and respond to these questions.
Doran begins by accepting four emphases presented by Lonergan concerning systematics: first, that its principal function is the hypothetical and analogical understanding of the mysteries of faith; second, that it should begin with those mysteries of faith that have received dogmatic status; third, that it must proceed in the 'order of teaching' rather than the 'order of discovery'; and last, that it must be explanatory rather than merely descriptive. He then addresses questions that are raised by each of these emphases.
What Is Systematic Theology? is the most thorough attempt undertaken to date to advance Lonergan's program for systematics, fully in the spirit of his work but addressing issues that he left to others. Doran's idea of a core set of meanings for systematics - or a 'unified field structure' - is highly original, as is the integration of the systematic ideal and contemporary historical consciousness.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 230
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 9781442683297 0802090419
- LCCN
- BT75.3
- LCCN Item number
- D67 2005eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (x, 253 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00601082 (OCoLC)288098283 (CaOOCEL)418740
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Contents 6
- Preface 10
- 1 The Question 14
- 2 The Principal Function of Systematics and the Issues This Raises 18
- 1 Lonergan’s Emphases 18
- 1.1 The Principal Function 18
- 1.2 Dogma and Systematics 20
- 1.3 The Order of Teaching 20
- 1.4 Explanation on the Level of One’s Own Time 22
- 1.5 A Theological Qualification 24
- 2 Questions about Each Emphasis 24
- 3 Dogma and Mystery 28
- 4 Theological Doctrines 39
- 1 The Position 39
- 2 Criteria of Theological Doctrines 42
- 3 Closure: The Example of Operative Grace 43
- 4 Analogy: The Example of Emanatio Intelligibilis 45
- 5 Practical Consequences: The Example of Preferential Option 51
- 5 Categories 53
- 1 Transposition 53
- 2 Integration with Contemporary Developments 57
- 3 Relation of General and Special Categories 58
- 4 Summary to This Point 62
- 6 Mediation 64
- 7 Structure 72
- 1 The Thesis 73
- 2 The Four-point Hypothesis 76
- 3 Previous Discussion on the Issue 77
- 4 A Proposal 80
- 5 History and the Special Categories 83
- 6 A Distinction 86
- 7 Glimpsing Some Implications 87
- 8 Anticipations 89
- 1 An Open but Continuous Future 89
- 2 The Ontology of Meaning 90
- 3 Anticipations of Content 93
- 9 The Question of Ground 100
- 1 The Issue 100
- 2 Lonergan on Foundations 103
- 3 Categories 109
- 4 Conversion and Foundations 111
- 4.1 Intellectual Conversion 111
- 4.2 Moral Conversion 113
- 4.3 Religious Conversion 118
- 4.4 Psychic Conversion 120
- 5 Expanding the Notion of Psychic Conversion 135
- 5.1 The Basic Thesis 135
- 5.2 Related Considerations 144
- 6 The Question of Truth 151
- 10 System and History 155
- 1 Developing Synthesis 155
- 2 System as Witness 157
- 3 History as Mediated Object of Systematic Theology 160
- 3.1 Data from the Lonergan Archives 160
- 3.2 Lonergan on the Dialectic of History 167
- 3.3 The Psyche and the Normative Source of Meaning 174
- 3.4 Dialectic and the Scale of Values 181
- 3.5 Complicating the Structure 190
- 3.6 Systematic Theology as a Theory of History 206
- 4 Theology as Praxis 208
- 5 Concluding Summary 214
- Notes 218
- Index 250
- A 250
- B 251
- C 251
- D 252
- E 254
- F 254
- G 255
- H 255
- I 256
- J 257
- K 257
- L 257
- M 258
- N 259
- O 259
- P 259
- Q 260
- R 260
- S 261
- T 263
- U 263
- V 264
- W 264
