Critical Questions in Contemporary Theology: Essays in Honour of Dermot A. Lane
Summary
(Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ Emerita Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, New York City)
This book is a collection of essays, each focused on the state of a particular question in contemporary theology, written in honour of the distinguished Irish theologian, Dermot A. Lane. Lane, in his extensive corpus, seeks to bring constructive perspectives to bear on a range of issues in theology. The contributors to this volume include former colleagues and students of Dermot Lane, and theologians from other faculties of theology in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who have collaborated with him.
In tribute to Lane’s legacy, this Festschrift seeks to offer constructive intradisciplinary perspectives on select questions in contemporary theology, relating to sacred texts, liturgy, philosophy, the God question, anthropology, race, ecology, politics, ecumenical dialogue, interreligious dialogue, ecclesiology, and hope.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Theology & The Bible
- Reading the Hebrew Bible in the Twenty-First Century: Challenges and Opportunities
- Innovative Tradition: On Some Aspects of Jewish Biblical Textuality
- Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Emerging Field of Biblical Reception
- Paul after Paul: The Reverberation of the Apostle
- Theology & Liturgy
- The Continuing Quest for ‘Eucharistic Origins’ and the Implications of this Research for Theologies of the Eucharist
- Liturgical Theology in Dialogue with Contemporary Western Cultures
- Theology & Philosophy
- Mortal Thinking: Notes on Plato’s Phaedo
- Losing ‘Reason’ as a Counterpart to ‘Religion’? Stances on the Specificity of Faith in God
- Salutary Truth
- Aquinas on Truth-Telling in a Post-Truth World
- Theology & the Divine Life
- Grace: Divine Solicitude for a World in Intensive Care
- On Going ‘Beyond’ the ‘Classical Presentation’ of Chalcedon
- Charism, Institution, and Trinity in the Work of Karl Rahner: On Securing the Necessary Pneumatological Ground for an Integrated Theology of Ministry
- Theology & Anthropology
- Bodies that Matter: A Feminist Argument for John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
- Race and Theology
- Challenges of Empirical Research for Theological Anthropology
- Is Anthropocentrism a Problem for Ethics? A Brief Examination of Dermot Lane’s Approach
- Theology & the Political
- Problematising a Theology of Violence in the Islamic Tradition
- The Open Self: Political Identity and Dialogue
- Theology & Dialogue
- Ecumenical Theology: A Work in Progress
- Christology and Interreligious Dialogue
- Further Stepping Stones for Jewish-Christian Dialogue
- Theology & Hope
- Hope and Reconciliation: An Ecclesiological Reflection
- On the Priority of Hope: The Poet and the Theologians
- The Global Compact on Education: Educating for Hope
- Keeping Hope Alive: Dermot A. Lane’s Eschatology
- Notes on Editors
- Notes on Contributors
- Index
Acknowledgements
A Festschrift of this kind, which covers many topics in contemporary theology, would not be possible without the collegiality and enthusiastic work of the contributing authors, to whom we express our deep appreciation. We would also like to thank the Series Editors of Studies in Theology, Society and Culture, Declan Marmion, Gesa Thiessen, Norbert Hintersteiner, and Judith Gruber, for their guidance at every step of the publication process. Finally, we thank Anthony Mason and the editorial team at Peter Lang for their assistance and professionalism in bringing this volume to publication.
Alan J. Kearns and Ethna Regan
Introduction
Critical Questions in Contemporary Theology is a compilation of essays, each focused on the state of a particular question in contemporary theology, written in honour of the distinguished Irish theologian, Dermot A. Lane. Lane is a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, former Lecturer in Theology and President of Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University. He has an extensive teaching career in various colleges and universities in both Ireland and the United States. Lane has also published books and articles on a range of areas in fundamental and systematic theology.
Lane is a theologian of the Second Vatican Council and someone who has been ‘utterly committed’ to it.1 Since the end of the Council in 1965,2 theology has witnessed rapid changes in a world that has become more and more globally interconnected and has benefitted from amazing developments in technology and science. It is also a world that is affected by many political and social problems, challenges and conflicts. The place of religion in the lives of people, societies and cultures has experienced a shift in some parts of the world where it can no longer be assumed that it has an automatically accepted position in the public square. Theological reflection is not removed from its historical context, marked by continual change, turbulence and uncertainty. As Lane states, ‘All of theology is contextual’,3 and therefore, ‘When theology neglects or ignores its surrounding context, it ceases to communicate.’4 Through his writings, Lane consistently demonstrates the importance of theology carefully and coherently responding to the questions of the day, some of which are perennial and some of which are novel or take on a new intensity or fresh perspective.
Lane begins one of his earliest books The Experience of God, with the statement: ‘The question of God is the ultimate question of life’.5 This is a question that Lane has dedicated his life’s work to, in his exploration of the various areas of fundamental theology, whether it be examining the centrality of experience of God or understanding the reality and meaning of Jesus Christ – as a person – for the foundation of the Christian faith.6 Lane’s interests include understanding a theology of hope,7 issues facing Religious Education,8 the relation and dialogue between culture and religious faith,9 developing a theology for interreligious dialogue,10 as well as exploring the foundations of a social theology.11 When surveying his extensive and comprehensive intellectual output, Lane’s recent work on ecology and theology12 may seem to be a new departure. However, this is not the case. Lane’s attentiveness to ecology can already be witnessed in his earlier works.13 As a theologian, Lane has consistently demonstrated a real concern for issues and an astute attunement to observing the ‘signs of the times’.14 Lane understands theology to be:
the critical unpacking of the revelation of God that takes place in human experience through faith. […] Theology […] is about life, the experience of life in all its spiritual implications, especially those that point toward the presence of God at the center of life itself.15
Lane, in the tradition of Karl Rahner, has always been interested in the lived experience of God by the person. This is due to his conviction that the presence of God can be experienced in the world and all its wonders.16 The person’s experience, as well as comprehension, of God, according to Lane, is affected by their experience, as well as comprehension, of the world.17
Finally, Lane has extensively contributed to, and shaped, the continuing pursuit of theological investigation. The ‘doing’ of theology, as carried out by Lane, is not some lofty and abstract enterprise but one that is situated in the concrete world, responsive to the various issues of the time. In an ever-changing political, social, and cultural landscape, the enduring relevance of Lane’s theological analysis of the questions and problems of our time is striking. In The Experience of God, Lane’s expressed intention with this book was ‘to open up a constructive perspective on some of the central issues that belong to fundamental theology.’18 That has been the quintessential agenda of Lane’s remarkable and inspirational work. This Festschrift seeks ‘to open up a constructive perspective’ on the state of select key questions in contemporary theology, inspired by Lane’s legacy. The contributors to this Festschrift include former colleagues and students of Dermot Lane from Dublin City University, and theologians from other faculties of theology in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who have collaborated with him.
1 Margaret Daly-Denton, ‘Foreword’, in Dermot A. Lane, Nature Praising God: Towards a Theology of the Natural World (Dublin: Messenger Publications, 2022), 9–11 at 9.
2 See Dermot A. Lane, ‘Keeping the Memory Alive: Vatican II as an Enduring Legacy for Reform of the Church’, in Dermot A. Lane, ed., Vatican II in Ireland, Fifty Years On: Essays in Honour of Pádraic Conway (Oxford; New York: Peter Lang, 2015), 29–53.
3 Dermot A. Lane, ‘Theology in Transition’, in Dermot A. Lane, ed., Catholic Theology Facing the Future: Historical Perspectives (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2003), 3–23 at 3.
4 Dermot A. Lane, Stepping Stones to Other Religions: A Christian Theology of Inter-Religious Dialogue (Dublin: Veritas, 2011), 24.
5 Dermot A. Lane, The Experience of God: An Invitation to Do Theology (Dublin: Veritas, 1981), 1.
6 Dermot A. Lane, The Reality of Jesus: An Essay in Christology (Dublin: Veritas, 1975); Dermot A. Lane, Christ at the Centre: Selected Issues in Christology (Dublin: Veritas, 1990).
7 Dermot A. Lane, Keeping Hope Alive: Stirrings in Christian Theology (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1996).
8 Dermot A. Lane, ed., Religious Education and the Future: Essays in Honour of Patrick Wallace (Dublin: The Columba Press, 1986).
9 Dermot A. Lane, ed., Religion and Culture in Dialogue: A Challenge for the Next Millennium (Dublin: The Columba Press, 1993).
10 Lane, Stepping Stones to Other Religions.
11 Dermot A. Lane, Foundations for a Social Theology: Praxis, Process and Salvation (New York; Ramsey: Paulist Press, 1984).
12 Dermot A. Lane, Theology and Ecology in Dialogue: The Wisdom of Laudato Si’ (Dublin: Messenger Publications, 2020).
13 E.g. Lane, Foundations for a Social Theology, 99–100; Lane, Christ at the Centre, 156; Lane, ‘Theology in Transition’, 5 and 13; Lane, Keeping Hope Alive, 9 and also see chapter 11.
14 Paul VI, ‘Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium et spes’ (1965), par. 4. <https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html>, accessed 4 April 2023. E.g. Lane, Foundations for a Social Theology.
15 Lane, The Experience of God, 3–4.
16 Lane, Theology and Ecology in Dialogue, 50.
17 Lane, Christ at the Centre, 65.
18 Lane, The Experience of God, 3.
Bradford A. Anderson
Reading the Hebrew Bible in the Twenty-First Century: Challenges and Opportunities
Introduction
Emerging from the small Jewish community on the edge of the Mediterranean in the centuries leading up to the Common Era, the collection of texts known as the Hebrew Bible has had an outsized influence on our world. For more than two millennia these texts have had a significant impact as the sacred texts of Judaism, as part of the biblical canon for Christianity, and as an indelible aspect of Western cultural traditions.1 This essay focuses on one aspect of this story: exploring how the Hebrew Bible has been read and interpreted through the years, giving particular attention to some of the challenges and opportunities of engaging with these writings in the twenty-first century.
The essay begins with a broad history of interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, outlining trajectories in the pre-modern era, in modernity with the rise of critical biblical scholarship, and finally in the present era, which has seen a flowering of approaches. It then moves on to explore a number of challenges and opportunities that present themselves to readers of the Hebrew Bible in the contemporary period. I suggest that the contemporary scene affords readers a number of opportunities, including the creation of space for Jewish-Christian dialogue and the opportunity to engage with the Bible from diverse perspectives. However, for those who wish to engage with these texts as Scripture, these opportunities also highlight a number of challenges, in large part because the Hebrew Bible is an increasingly contested text.
Approaches to Reading and Interpreting the Hebrew Bible
Pre-Modern Approaches
There has never been one ‘correct’ way to interpret the Hebrew Bible. This is seen in the earliest uses of these texts, where we find significant diversity in the interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures.2 In Jewish tradition, this diversity is evident in texts ranging from the Dead Sea Scrolls to later rabbinic texts such as the midrashim and the Talmud.3 As James Kugel notes, these early Jewish readers assumed that the Bible was cryptic, homiletically relevant, consistent and ‘perfect’, and divinely inspired – and should be read in light of these factors.4 Thus, figurative interpretations (which assume the Scriptures have multiple meanings), intertextual associations, and proof-texting were all common approaches in early Jewish and rabbinic interpretation.
Similar approaches are found in Christianity during the early centuries of the church, where figurative interpretation dominated for over a millennium.5 Within this, allegorical and typological interpretations were particularly common, especially those readings which could bring together the Old and New Testaments – that is, the stories of Israel with those of Jesus and the early Church. These approaches would become formalised in late antiquity and into the medieval period, where a fourfold approach was common: Scripture was understood to have literal, allegorical, moral, and spiritual senses, and interpreters would often find ways of drawing out all of these various dimensions of the Old Testament in their exegetical reflections.6
The Rise of ‘Critical’ Approaches
A noticeable shift occurred in the late medieval and early modern periods. In Jewish tradition, influential figures such as the medieval commentators Rashi and Ibn Ezra began to focus on the peshat, or the ‘plain sense’ of Scripture. While still engaging with rabbinic tradition, these readers began to offer more extensive grammatical and historical observations on the Bible.7 Similar developments would take shape in Christianity as part of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Influential leaders including Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, and John Calvin began giving more attention to issues such as the original languages and the historical context of biblical books. Like their Jewish counterparts, these readers did not abandon the received tradition of figurative reading; nevertheless, this era sparked a notable shift in how the Bible would be read and interpreted moving into the modern period.8
The changes noted above would expand and deepen in the modern era, as the dominance and diversity of figurative approaches to reading the Hebrew Bible would be replaced by approaches influenced by the Enlightenment and the rise of the scientific method.9 The return to the original languages (i.e. Hebrew and Greek) and the rise of textual criticism would be joined by other historically focused approaches. Such interpretive concerns would focus on issues such as authorship, archaeology, and comparative work on the traditions of the ancient Near East. These and other ‘scientific’ approaches to studying the Bible would come to be collected under the broad designation of ‘historical-critical’ approaches (or historical criticism), and these methods would dominate the field for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.10
Methodological Pluralism and the Flowering of Biblical Studies
Historical-critical approaches would continue to be the dominant approach within academic biblical studies until the late twentieth century, and these remain important in the field today.11 However, a noticeable shift began to occur in the second half of the twentieth century, as biblical scholarship, following developments happening elsewhere in the humanities, increasingly began to engage with other fields and disciplines.12 Notable in this regard was the impact of literary studies, which encouraged scholars to investigate the literary dimensions of the biblical text, with less focus on historical concerns as the dominant frame of reference for interpretation. This is evident in several important works of this era, including Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative, which made a significant impact on the field in terms of introducing literary methods and approaches.13 While historical work remained important in this period, it was no longer the sole factor for an increasing number of scholars. Instead, readers were encouraged to explore the world ‘within’ the text, and not just the world ‘behind’ it.
Details
- Pages
- XII, 334
- Year
- 2024
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781803741130
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781803741147
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9781803741123
- DOI
- 10.3726/b20609
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2024 (May)
- Keywords
- biblical reception contemporary theology critical questions Dermot Lane ecumenical theology Hebrew Bible interreligious dialogue pneumatology the God question theology of the body
- Published
- Oxford, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, 2024. XII, 334 pp.
