Immanent Transcendent Angles on a Post-Reformation Theology
Religion and Theology 2010 DOI: 10.1163/157430110x597908 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that a post-Reformation theology can be articulated as postmodern, post-metaphysical, immanent transcendent, corporeal, narrative, holistic and secularly spiritual. Contends that doctrines of revelation, God, and salvation should be reframed within this immanent transcendent model, and that understanding religious experience requires linking consciousness to bodily functions, especially emotions, with narrative as the medium best suited to convey a holistic concept of religious experience. |
Abstract
The article offers examples of a post-Reformation theology which could be described as postmodern, post-metaphysical, anti-fundamentalist, immanent transcendent, corporeal, narrative, holistic and secularly spiritual. As examples of the kind of Reformed belief that is increasingly questioned it examines the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of God and of salvation, with proposals of how they could be accommodated in an immanent transcendent model. Philosophy of consciousness (with reference to Hegel and Sartre) serves to clarify the transcendentally wired nature of human consciousness. The underlying question is how affect can be understood in a rational, epistemological framework. Human consciousness has to be linked to bodily functions, more especially emotions, to appreciate how religious experience occurs in a secular spiritual context. Narrative is spotlighted as the medium that is pre-eminently suited to convey a holistic concept of religious experience.