Here's a section from Jungel where he more clearly expresses the idea that "God's Being is in becoming":
"The title of this book may be off-putting. However, I ask you to read it carefully. It is not a matter of the ‘God who becomes’. God's being is not identified with God’s becoming; rather, God’s being is ontologically located. [. . .]
Theologically, what we call ‘becoming’ should be understood in its fundamental ontology as a trinitarian category. According to this, God does not leave his present behind him as a past in order to proceed towards a future which is strange to him; rather, in his trinitarian livingness he is ‘undividedly the beginning, succession and end, all at once in His own essence’. And so the title of this book tries to indicate what might be called the axiom of the Christian doctrine of God. (xxv-xxvi)"
Foreword to the First Edition, God's Being is in Becoming, Eberhard Jungel.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Ha! Nice one, Jon! See my thoughts on that material.
Just noticed that you pulled up Jungel on the use of the word "constitutive"... Seems like I have a good pedigree behind me then!
Plus... you complain about "theological ontology" but you must love the word ontology... what would we do without it?
Why must I love the word 'ontology'?
I would make a distinction between doing ontology and making an 'ontological' point. Its an adjectival as opposed to a substantive use. Besides, I am perfectly happy to let philosophers, etc, do all the ontology they want. I just don't think that Christian theology needs to spend its time working one out (nor, purhaps, should it want to). But, all this is a much bigger can of worms.
As far as 'constitutive' goes, there is something of an argument going on right now between Bruce McCormack and others about all this. Check the more recent volumes of IJST and SJT, and you will find it. It is worth a look after your semester is done.
Post a Comment