In this Book
- Conventional and Ultimate Truth: A Key for Fundamental Theology
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of Notre Dame Press
summary
In Conventional and Ultimate Truth, Joseph Stephen O'Leary completes his trilogy on contemporary fundamental theology, which began with the volumes Questioning Back (1985) and Religious Pluralism and Christian Truth (1996). Common to all three works are dialogues with European philosophers Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, G. W. F. Hegel, and the Madhyamaka school of Buddhism. In the current volume, O’Leary deals with the nature of theological rationality today, recommending the practice of reflective judgment, as opposed to systematic determinative judgment. Inspired by the Buddhist notion of conventional truth, O’Leary claims that if we fully accept the fragility and conventionality of religious language, we can find a secure basis for a critical, reflective theology. This proposal is fleshed out in a dialogue with classical negative theology and with the implications of twentieth-century art and literature for religious epistemology. Embracing conventionality does not mean that the dimension of ultimacy is lost. The two are intimately conjoined in the Buddhist two-truths doctrine. Revisiting traditional sites of theological ultimacy, such as the authority of scripture and Christian dogma and the appeal to religious experience, O’Leary argues that we do justice to them only when we fully accept the conventionality of their historical articulation. By relating these traditions of thought to one another, O’Leary produces a new model for contemporary fundamental theology, one that will positively refocus and revitalize the field.
Table of Contents
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- Abbreviations
- pp. xvii-xviii
- Chapter Two: The Twofold Truth
- pp. 48-78
- Chapter Four: Metaphysics and Its Overcoming
- pp. 104-155
- Chapter Five: Scripture and Revelation
- pp. 156-175
- Chapter Six: Religious Experience
- pp. 176-216
- Chapter Seven: Negative Theology
- pp. 217-292
- Chapter Eight: Interreligious Dialogue
- pp. 293-325
- Chapter Nine: Dogma
- pp. 326-375
- References
- pp. 376-390
Additional Information
ISBN
9780268088682
Related ISBN(s)
9780268037406
MARC Record
OCLC
910219669
Pages
448
Launched on MUSE
2015-05-27
Language
English
Open Access
No