Towards a Theology of Relationship : Emil Brunner's Truth as Encounter in Light of Relationship Science

Berra, Michael

James Clarke & Co Ltd（2024/01発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 268 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780227179895
• DDC分類 230.092

Full Description

With the theme of relationship receiving renewed attention in a variety of areas, theological expressions of the subject are also being brought back into the spotlight. Although the concept of a personal relationship with God is a common Christian expression, it is often poorly defined. Here, Michael Berra draws on the Swiss theologian Emil Brunner to redefine and rehabilitate the analogy of relationship.
Basing his study primarily on Brunner's seminal work Truth as Encounter, Berra proposes that relationship ought to be the central motif for the whole of theology. He investigates the theme in light of modern relationship science, arguing that God-human interaction categorically meets the definition of a relationship, and that it is existentially intended to be intimate. Scholars and church leaders will find in Berra's approach a refreshing voice in this dynamic field.

Contents

Introduction
a) Relationships Are Booming
b) Evangelical Shibboleth: A Personal Relationship with God
c) Emil Brunner: Unique among Relational Theologians
d) Motivation, Methodology and Structure: Building on Brunner in Light of Relationship Science
I: Truth as Encounter: Emil Brunner, the Relationship Theologian
1. Relationship: Emil Brunner's leitmotif
a. Existnetial: Relationship at Praxis
b. Epistemological: Relationship as Theological Leitmotif
2. Why Building on Emil Brunner?
a. Why Not Brunner?
b. Why Brunner?
II: Personal Correspondence: Emil Brunner's Leitmotif
3. Personal Correspondence: Preliminary Considerations
a. Brunner's Evolving Terminology
b. The Problem of Systematizing Personal Correspondence
c. The Question of Structuring Personal Correspondence
4. Personal Correspondence as Ontic Basis
a. Personal Correspondence as Primordial Relationship
b. Responsory Actuality as Actual Relation
c. Conclusions and Outlook
5. God-Towards-Human: The Call to Restoration of Personal Correspondence
a. The Mediator: Jesus Christ, the Incarnated Word
b. Immediated by the Holy Spirit, Mediated through the Church
6. Human-Towards-God: The Answer to Restoration of Personal Correspondence
a. The Turning from Faith as Believing Something
b. Happy Asymmetry: God First, Humans Second
c. The Importance of Reciprocity in Freedom
d. Faith as Self-Disclosure in Loving Responsiveness
III: The Analogy of Relationship: Personal Correspondence in Light of Relationship Science
7. Analogy of Relationship: Preliminary Considerations
a. What is a relationship?
b. Relationship Science as Point of Reference
c. A Working Theory of Analogy
8. Comparing Human and God-Human Relationships
a. A Personal Relationship with God?
b. A Close Relationship with God?
c. An Intimate Relationship with God?
d. Conclusion: The Analogy of Relationship
IV: Towards a Theology of Relationship
9. The Analogical Argument
a. The Categorical Argument
b. The Existential Argument
c. The Epistemological (Theological) Argument
d. The Argument towards a Theology of Relationship
e. Objections
10. Outlook: Ten Propositions Expanding Emil Brunner's Leitmotif of Relationship
a. Material: Towards a Systematic Theology of Relationship
b. Existential: Towards an Intimate Relationship with God
c. Formal: Towards a Communication of Relationship
Epilogue
Appendix: A Brief Introduction to the Major Frameworks of Relationship Science
Bibliography