Papers by Jennifer A Herrick
PhD Thesis 2006 USYD Jennifer Herrick
The concern of this thesis is with the history of ideas; specifically, the history of recent theo... more The concern of this thesis is with the history of ideas; specifically, the history of recent theological ideas. This thesis is not a work of systematic theology but rather situates discourse about a theological problem within the matrix of some relevant contemporary thought. Its category then is the history of the development of ideas. In the late twentieth century many academic theologians found the intelligibility of the traditional language used about the Christian Trinitarian God to be problematic. This is the thesis’ research problem. The research hypothesis is that these recent academic theologians sought to make trinitarian language used about the Christian Trinitarian God intelligible by replacing static definitions of ‘person’ with a dynamic relational model. The methodology of this thesis is essentially historical and hermeneutical. It draws on the hermeneutical philosophy of language of Paul Ricoeur as it developed around two key notions, his notion of text and his attention to the metaphorical process. Data is drawn from representative recent trinitarian works of a significant and scholarly nature written in and for the western arena at the end of the twentieth century. These sources are evaluated according to their ability, in Ricoeur’s language, to redescribe the reality of the trinitarian symbol and refigure the world of contemporary Christian consciousness. The thesis presents an investigation of western academic trinitarian theology in terms of a structure of analysis and synthesis. Via an exploration of a series of responses made by these recent trinitarian theologians to categories of thought pertaining to the concept of person and their consequent theological appropriations, this thesis demonstrates the research hypothesis. It demonstrates that in recent trinitarian thought
postmodern ideas on person as relational fuse with supportive biblical and derived patristic thought as theologians seek to make intelligible language used about the Christian Trinitarian God. In particular, the ancient concept of perichoresis is found by theologians to provide the necessary point of intersection. With a redefinition of person relationally, and in particular perichoretically, the Christian God is understood in communal terms.
PhD Thesis 2006 USYD Jennifer Anne Herrick
The concern of this thesis is with the history of ideas; specifically, the history of recent the... more The concern of this thesis is with the history of ideas; specifically, the history of recent theological ideas. This thesis is not a work of systematic theology but rather situates discourse about a theological problem within the matrix of some relevant contemporary thought. Its category then is the history of the development of ideas.
In the late twentieth century many academic theologians found the intelligibility of the traditional language used about the Christian Trinitarian God to be problematic. This is the thesis’ research problem. The research hypothesis is that these recent academic theologians sought to make trinitarian language used about the Christian Trinitarian God intelligible by replacing static definitions of ‘person’ with a dynamic relational model. The methodology of this thesis is essentially historical and hermeneutical. It draws on the hermeneutical philosophy of language of Paul Ricoeur as it developed around two key notions, his notion of text and his attention to the metaphorical process. Data is drawn from representative recent trinitarian works of a significant and scholarly nature written in and for the western arena at the end of the twentieth century. These sources are evaluated according to their ability, in Ricoeur’s language, to redescribe the reality of the trinitarian symbol and refigure the world of contemporary Christian consciousness.
The thesis presents an investigation of western academic trinitarian theology in terms of a structure of analysis and synthesis. Via an exploration of a series of responses made by these recent trinitarian theologians to categories of thought pertaining to the concept of person and their consequent theological appropriations, this thesis demonstrates the research hypothesis. It demonstrates that in recent trinitarian thought postmodern ideas on person as relational fuse with supportive biblical and derived patristic thought as theologians seek to make intelligible language used about the Christian Trinitarian God. In particular, the ancient concept of perichoresis is found by theologians to provide the necessary point of intersection. With a redefinition of person relationally, and in particular perichoretically, the Christian God is understood in communal terms.
Renewed understanding of God as communal is a chief outcome of the use of the relational perichoretic model of person by theologians as they address their concern with trinitarian intelligibility. The thesis demonstrates that when theologians redefine person in relational terms and particularly in perichoretic terms, a redescription of the trinitarian symbol and a refiguration of Christian consciousness of trinitarian reality is seen to be possible. Such a refigured consciousness constitutes an active reorganisation of Christian being-in-the-world. The implications of this reorganisation form the stuff of future trinitarian research and provide the motivation for this thesis’ research.
MTHons Thesis SCD 1994 Best Dissertation - Dr Beth Blackall Prize
THE ISSUE
The immutable God and the God of Love? Are they compatible?
Does God change? Does i... more THE ISSUE
The immutable God and the God of Love? Are they compatible?
Does God change? Does it matter?
If God is the immutable God, as interpreted from Classical Christian Tradition, a God
who remains unalterable, what is the point of prayer? Does prayer, or any of our actions in the world for that matter, have any affect on God? Can we move God? Is God simply a static Being? Is prayer of use if God is absolutely immutable? Does God respond to prayer or to our actions in the world?
Classical Tradition has presented us with a picture of an immutable God, a mono-polar
God, who remains unalterable, unchanged, transcendent to our history in the world. Yet scriptural revelation and personal religious experience presents us with a God who,
whilst transcendent to the world is also immanent, the God of Love who creates,
redeems, a God who is affected by, who responds to, what is happening in the world; a
God who listens and relates.
PROCEDURE FOLLOWED - an exploratory structure.
Taking the reader through an exploratory structure utilizing Scriptural texts, Church
documents, historical theological and philosophical debate, together with human Judaeo Christian experience carries the aim of discerning and presenting an interpretation of the nature of God’s immutability which appears best able to afford some reconciliation of the traditional viewpoint with biblical revelation and personal religious experience. The structure of the thesis thus involves methodological aspects of research, exegesis, interpretation, history, and dialectics.
RESULTANT STRUCTURE
Our journey sets the overall scene of Scriptural revelation and Conciliar documentation.
Presented then are discussions of the most polarised views or interpretations of the
nature of God’s immutability, that of the traditional interpretation of the Classical view,
of a static mono-polar God and the Process view of a dipolar God of becoming.
Addressed then in detail is the ensuing immutability debate. Out of this debate emerges that which forms our final focus for discussion and note, a reinterpretation of the Classical viewpoint.
MAJOR CONCLUSION
William Norris Clarke’s neo-Thomistic consideration of the nature of God’s
immutability rests on the basis of the notion of the Dynamic Being of God and forms the final focus and basis for our seeking a reconciliation of tradition, scripture and personal religious experience with respect to the nature of God’s immutability.
Discussion of Norris Clarke’s work is supplemented by a consideration of the work of Robert A. Connor, and in support, that of David Schindler. Norris Clarke’s classical
reinterpretation gives credence both to scriptural revelation and personal experience of
God’s historical relationality and responsiveness to humankind without betraying the
Classical Tradition. With independent support by Connor and in dialogue with
Schindler, it becomes the favoured viewpoint.
Sydney Studies in Religion, 2008
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Papers by Jennifer A Herrick
postmodern ideas on person as relational fuse with supportive biblical and derived patristic thought as theologians seek to make intelligible language used about the Christian Trinitarian God. In particular, the ancient concept of perichoresis is found by theologians to provide the necessary point of intersection. With a redefinition of person relationally, and in particular perichoretically, the Christian God is understood in communal terms.
In the late twentieth century many academic theologians found the intelligibility of the traditional language used about the Christian Trinitarian God to be problematic. This is the thesis’ research problem. The research hypothesis is that these recent academic theologians sought to make trinitarian language used about the Christian Trinitarian God intelligible by replacing static definitions of ‘person’ with a dynamic relational model. The methodology of this thesis is essentially historical and hermeneutical. It draws on the hermeneutical philosophy of language of Paul Ricoeur as it developed around two key notions, his notion of text and his attention to the metaphorical process. Data is drawn from representative recent trinitarian works of a significant and scholarly nature written in and for the western arena at the end of the twentieth century. These sources are evaluated according to their ability, in Ricoeur’s language, to redescribe the reality of the trinitarian symbol and refigure the world of contemporary Christian consciousness.
The thesis presents an investigation of western academic trinitarian theology in terms of a structure of analysis and synthesis. Via an exploration of a series of responses made by these recent trinitarian theologians to categories of thought pertaining to the concept of person and their consequent theological appropriations, this thesis demonstrates the research hypothesis. It demonstrates that in recent trinitarian thought postmodern ideas on person as relational fuse with supportive biblical and derived patristic thought as theologians seek to make intelligible language used about the Christian Trinitarian God. In particular, the ancient concept of perichoresis is found by theologians to provide the necessary point of intersection. With a redefinition of person relationally, and in particular perichoretically, the Christian God is understood in communal terms.
Renewed understanding of God as communal is a chief outcome of the use of the relational perichoretic model of person by theologians as they address their concern with trinitarian intelligibility. The thesis demonstrates that when theologians redefine person in relational terms and particularly in perichoretic terms, a redescription of the trinitarian symbol and a refiguration of Christian consciousness of trinitarian reality is seen to be possible. Such a refigured consciousness constitutes an active reorganisation of Christian being-in-the-world. The implications of this reorganisation form the stuff of future trinitarian research and provide the motivation for this thesis’ research.
The immutable God and the God of Love? Are they compatible?
Does God change? Does it matter?
If God is the immutable God, as interpreted from Classical Christian Tradition, a God
who remains unalterable, what is the point of prayer? Does prayer, or any of our actions in the world for that matter, have any affect on God? Can we move God? Is God simply a static Being? Is prayer of use if God is absolutely immutable? Does God respond to prayer or to our actions in the world?
Classical Tradition has presented us with a picture of an immutable God, a mono-polar
God, who remains unalterable, unchanged, transcendent to our history in the world. Yet scriptural revelation and personal religious experience presents us with a God who,
whilst transcendent to the world is also immanent, the God of Love who creates,
redeems, a God who is affected by, who responds to, what is happening in the world; a
God who listens and relates.
PROCEDURE FOLLOWED - an exploratory structure.
Taking the reader through an exploratory structure utilizing Scriptural texts, Church
documents, historical theological and philosophical debate, together with human Judaeo Christian experience carries the aim of discerning and presenting an interpretation of the nature of God’s immutability which appears best able to afford some reconciliation of the traditional viewpoint with biblical revelation and personal religious experience. The structure of the thesis thus involves methodological aspects of research, exegesis, interpretation, history, and dialectics.
RESULTANT STRUCTURE
Our journey sets the overall scene of Scriptural revelation and Conciliar documentation.
Presented then are discussions of the most polarised views or interpretations of the
nature of God’s immutability, that of the traditional interpretation of the Classical view,
of a static mono-polar God and the Process view of a dipolar God of becoming.
Addressed then in detail is the ensuing immutability debate. Out of this debate emerges that which forms our final focus for discussion and note, a reinterpretation of the Classical viewpoint.
MAJOR CONCLUSION
William Norris Clarke’s neo-Thomistic consideration of the nature of God’s
immutability rests on the basis of the notion of the Dynamic Being of God and forms the final focus and basis for our seeking a reconciliation of tradition, scripture and personal religious experience with respect to the nature of God’s immutability.
Discussion of Norris Clarke’s work is supplemented by a consideration of the work of Robert A. Connor, and in support, that of David Schindler. Norris Clarke’s classical
reinterpretation gives credence both to scriptural revelation and personal experience of
God’s historical relationality and responsiveness to humankind without betraying the
Classical Tradition. With independent support by Connor and in dialogue with
Schindler, it becomes the favoured viewpoint.
postmodern ideas on person as relational fuse with supportive biblical and derived patristic thought as theologians seek to make intelligible language used about the Christian Trinitarian God. In particular, the ancient concept of perichoresis is found by theologians to provide the necessary point of intersection. With a redefinition of person relationally, and in particular perichoretically, the Christian God is understood in communal terms.
In the late twentieth century many academic theologians found the intelligibility of the traditional language used about the Christian Trinitarian God to be problematic. This is the thesis’ research problem. The research hypothesis is that these recent academic theologians sought to make trinitarian language used about the Christian Trinitarian God intelligible by replacing static definitions of ‘person’ with a dynamic relational model. The methodology of this thesis is essentially historical and hermeneutical. It draws on the hermeneutical philosophy of language of Paul Ricoeur as it developed around two key notions, his notion of text and his attention to the metaphorical process. Data is drawn from representative recent trinitarian works of a significant and scholarly nature written in and for the western arena at the end of the twentieth century. These sources are evaluated according to their ability, in Ricoeur’s language, to redescribe the reality of the trinitarian symbol and refigure the world of contemporary Christian consciousness.
The thesis presents an investigation of western academic trinitarian theology in terms of a structure of analysis and synthesis. Via an exploration of a series of responses made by these recent trinitarian theologians to categories of thought pertaining to the concept of person and their consequent theological appropriations, this thesis demonstrates the research hypothesis. It demonstrates that in recent trinitarian thought postmodern ideas on person as relational fuse with supportive biblical and derived patristic thought as theologians seek to make intelligible language used about the Christian Trinitarian God. In particular, the ancient concept of perichoresis is found by theologians to provide the necessary point of intersection. With a redefinition of person relationally, and in particular perichoretically, the Christian God is understood in communal terms.
Renewed understanding of God as communal is a chief outcome of the use of the relational perichoretic model of person by theologians as they address their concern with trinitarian intelligibility. The thesis demonstrates that when theologians redefine person in relational terms and particularly in perichoretic terms, a redescription of the trinitarian symbol and a refiguration of Christian consciousness of trinitarian reality is seen to be possible. Such a refigured consciousness constitutes an active reorganisation of Christian being-in-the-world. The implications of this reorganisation form the stuff of future trinitarian research and provide the motivation for this thesis’ research.
The immutable God and the God of Love? Are they compatible?
Does God change? Does it matter?
If God is the immutable God, as interpreted from Classical Christian Tradition, a God
who remains unalterable, what is the point of prayer? Does prayer, or any of our actions in the world for that matter, have any affect on God? Can we move God? Is God simply a static Being? Is prayer of use if God is absolutely immutable? Does God respond to prayer or to our actions in the world?
Classical Tradition has presented us with a picture of an immutable God, a mono-polar
God, who remains unalterable, unchanged, transcendent to our history in the world. Yet scriptural revelation and personal religious experience presents us with a God who,
whilst transcendent to the world is also immanent, the God of Love who creates,
redeems, a God who is affected by, who responds to, what is happening in the world; a
God who listens and relates.
PROCEDURE FOLLOWED - an exploratory structure.
Taking the reader through an exploratory structure utilizing Scriptural texts, Church
documents, historical theological and philosophical debate, together with human Judaeo Christian experience carries the aim of discerning and presenting an interpretation of the nature of God’s immutability which appears best able to afford some reconciliation of the traditional viewpoint with biblical revelation and personal religious experience. The structure of the thesis thus involves methodological aspects of research, exegesis, interpretation, history, and dialectics.
RESULTANT STRUCTURE
Our journey sets the overall scene of Scriptural revelation and Conciliar documentation.
Presented then are discussions of the most polarised views or interpretations of the
nature of God’s immutability, that of the traditional interpretation of the Classical view,
of a static mono-polar God and the Process view of a dipolar God of becoming.
Addressed then in detail is the ensuing immutability debate. Out of this debate emerges that which forms our final focus for discussion and note, a reinterpretation of the Classical viewpoint.
MAJOR CONCLUSION
William Norris Clarke’s neo-Thomistic consideration of the nature of God’s
immutability rests on the basis of the notion of the Dynamic Being of God and forms the final focus and basis for our seeking a reconciliation of tradition, scripture and personal religious experience with respect to the nature of God’s immutability.
Discussion of Norris Clarke’s work is supplemented by a consideration of the work of Robert A. Connor, and in support, that of David Schindler. Norris Clarke’s classical
reinterpretation gives credence both to scriptural revelation and personal experience of
God’s historical relationality and responsiveness to humankind without betraying the
Classical Tradition. With independent support by Connor and in dialogue with
Schindler, it becomes the favoured viewpoint.