Narrativity as a Locus Hermeneuticus for Ecumenical Theology: Culture,Koinonia and Transformation

Abstract

This article argues that narrativity has the potential to be a key hermeneutical concept in ecumenical theology. Instead of pursuing a complex elaboration of the notion, it will seek to explore various aspects of narrativity. The thesis will be explicated in three major steps, consecutively discussing culture as the general setting of narrativity, explicating narrativity as a concept that can helpfully address some of the major issues in ecumenical theology and proposing transformation as the ultimate horizon of the faith and practice of the Christian koinonia.

Keywords

Culture ecumenical theology hermeneutics koinonia narrativity story transformation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bargár

(2014) Niebuhr’s typology reconsidered: Reading Christ and Culture through the lenses of the praxis matrix. Communio Viatorum 56(3): 294–316.

Bargár

(2016) Narrative, Myth, Transformation: Reflecting Theologically on Contemporary Culture. Jihlava: Mlýn.

Bevans

Schroeder

(2004) Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Blomjous

(1980) Development in mission thinking and practice, 1959–1980: Inculturation and interculturation. African Ecclesial Review 22(6): 293–298.

Bulhof

(1995) Between postmodernism, Judaism and Christianity: Some comments on Kurt Schori’s concept of tradition. In: Houtepen

(ed.) The Living Tradition: Towards an Ecumenical Hermeneutics of the Christian Tradition. Utrecht: IIMO, pp. 17–33.

Carter

(2006) Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

Chatman

(1978) The Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Costas

(1979) The Integrity of Mission: The Inner Life and Outreach of the Church. New York: Harper & Row.

Faith and Order (1964) Scripture, Tradition and Traditions. In: Rodger

Vischer

(eds) The Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order, Montreal 1963. New York: Association Press, pp. 50–61.

10.

Faith and Order (1998) A Treasure in Earthen Vessels: An Ecumenical Instrument on Hermeneutics. Available at: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/commissions/faith-and-order/iv-interpretation-the-meaning-of-our-words-and-symbols/a-treasure-in-earthen-vessels (accessed 3 January 2018).

11.

Ford

(1995 [1985]) System, story, performance: A proposal about the role of narrative in Christian systematic theology. In: Hauerwas

Jones

(eds) Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, pp. 191–215.

12.

Ford

(1999) Self and Salvation: Being Transformed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

13.

Ford

(2001) Salvation and the nature of theology: A response to John Webster’s review of Self and Salvation: Being Transformed. Scottish Journal of Theology 54(4): 560–575.

14.

Frei

(1974) The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative: A Study in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Hermeneutics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

15.

Genette

(1980) Narrative Discourse. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

16.

Gorringe

(2004) Furthering Humanity: A Theology of Culture. Aldershot and Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

17.

Grimes

(1986) Of words the speaker, of deeds the doer. Journal of Religion 66(1): 1–17.

18.

Hauerwas

Jones

(1995) Introduction: Why narrative? In: Hauerwas

Jones

(eds) Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, pp. 1–18.

19.

Heller

(2016) Dia-logos: Reflections on different forms of inter-Christian dialogue and their possibilities. In: Chapman

Haar

(eds) Pathways for Ecclesial Dialogue in the Twenty-First Century. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 11–19.

20.

Hobsbawm

Ranger

(eds) (1983) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

21.

Hošek

(2013) Kouzlo vyprávění: Proměňující moc příběhu a “křest fantazie” v pojetí C. S. Lewise. Prague: Návrat domů.

22.

Houtepen

(2001) Hermeneutics and ecumenism: The art of understanding a communicative God. In: Bouteneff

Heller

(eds) Interpreting Together: Essays in Hermeneutics. Geneva: WCC Publications, pp. 1–18.

23.

Kim

(2013) “Come, Holy Spirit”: Who? Why? How? So what? In: Lorke

Werner

(eds) Ecumenical Visions for the 21st Century: A Reader for Theological Education. Geneva: WCC Publications, pp. 209–214.

24.

Kinnamon

(1988) Truth and Community: Diversity and Its Limits in the Ecumenical Movement. Grand Rapids, MI and Geneva: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company and WCC Publications.

25.

Kort

(1992) Bound to Differ: The Dynamics of Theological Discourses. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.

26.

Lakoff

Johnson

(2003 [1980]) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, IL and London: The University of Chicago Press.

27.

Lash

(1995 [1982]) Ideology, metaphor, and analogy. In: Hauerwas

Jones

(eds) Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, pp. 113–137.

28.

Lash

(2005 [1982]) Performing the scriptures. In: Lash N Theology on the Way to Emmaus. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, pp. 37–46.

29.

Lehmann

(1963) Ethics in a Christian Context. New York: Harper and Row Publishers.

30.

Lindbeck

(1984) The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press.

31.

Loughlin

(1996) Telling God’s Story: Bible, Church and Narrative Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

32.

Lynch

(2005) Understanding Theology and Popular Culture. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

33.

MacIntyre

(1985) After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theology. 2nd edn. London: Duckworth.

34.

Marsden

(1999) Christianity and cultures: Transforming Niebuhr’s categories. Insights: The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary 115(1): 4–15.

35.

Melanchthon

(2014 [1521]) Commonplaces: Loci Communes 1521. Translated by Preus

. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

36.

Michener

(2013) Postliberal Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark.

37.

Niebuhr

(1995 [1941]) The story of our life. In: Hauerwas

Jones

(eds) Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, pp. 21–44.

38.

Niebuhr

(2001 [1951]) Christ and Culture. 50th anniversary expanded edn. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco.

39.

Raiser

(1991) Beyond tradition and context: In search of an ecumenical framework of hermeneutics. International Review of Mission 80(319–320): 347–354.

40.

Rayan

(1998) Come, Holy Spirit. Delhi: Media House.

41.

Ricoeur

(1988) Time and Narrative, Vol. 3. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

42.

Rimmon-Kenan

(1983) Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. London and New York: Methuen.

43.

Ronen

(1994) Possible Worlds in Literary Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

44.

Root

(1995 [1986]) The narrative structure of soteriology. In: Hauerwas

Jones

(eds) Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, pp. 263–278.

45.

Scholes

Kellogg

(1968) The Nature of Narrative. London: Oxford University Press.

46.

Schori

(1992) Das Problem der Tradition: Eine fundamentaltheologische Untersuchung. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.

47.

Schreiter

(1996) Communication and interpretation across cultures: Problems and prospects. International Review of Mission 85(337): 227–239.

48.

Širka

ZŠ

(2016) Výzvy ekumenické hermeneutiky v současnosti a okolnosti jejího vzniku. In: Širka

(ed.) Domov jako most: Festschrift k padesátinám prof. Ivany Noble. SAT 27, Jihlava: Mlýn, pp. 99–119.

49.

Smith

(1993) What Is Scripture? A Comparative Approach. London: SCM Press.

50.

Stroupe

Fleming

(1995) While We Run This Race: Confronting the Power of Racism in a Southern Church. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

51.

Tanner

(1997) Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress.

52.

Tanner

(2012) Faith and order: Achievements of multilateral dialogue. In: Radano

(ed.) Celebrating a Century of Ecumenism: Exploring the Achievements of International Dialogue. Geneva and Grand Rapids, MI: WCC Publications and Eerdmans, pp. 24–37.

53.

Wijsen

(2001) Intercultural theology and the mission of the Church. Exchange 30(3): 218–228.

54.

Williams

(1991) The literal sense of scripture. Modern Theology 7(2): 121–134.

55.

World Council of Churches (1996) On intercultural hermeneutics: Report of a WCC consultation, Jerusalem, 5–12 December 1995. International Review of Mission 85(337): 241–252.

56.

World Council of Churches (2012) Theological perspectives on Diakonia in the 21st century. A report from a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2–6 June 2012. Available at: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-programmes/unity-mission-evangelism-and-spirituality/just-and-inclusive-communities/theological-perspectives-on-diakonia-in-21st-century (accessed 5 January 2018).

57.

World Council of Churches (2014) An Invitation to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. A document adopted by the WCC Central Committee on 8 July 2014. Available at: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/central-committee/geneva-2014/an-invitation-to-the-pilgrimage-of-justice-and-peace (accessed 4 January 2018).

58.

Yoder

(1996) How H. Richard Niebuhr reasoned: A critique of Christ and Culture. In: Stassen

Yeager

Yoder

Authentic Transformation: A New Vision of Christ and Culture. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, pp. 31–89.

59.

Yong

(2000) Discerning the Spirit(s): A Pentecostal-Charismatic Contribution to Christian Theology of Religions. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

60.

Zeigler

(2007) The many faces of the worshipping self: David’s Ford Anglican vision of Christian transformation. Anglican Theological Review 89(2): 267–285.