Inconclusive theologies
Subtitle: sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Kierkegaard, and theological discourse
By: Lisa D. Powell
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Macon, Georgia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780881464634
Description: Kierkegaard argued that Christianity is a lived religion, not a set of doctrines to be cognitively affirmed. This means theologys proper focus is reflection on revelation within the God-human relationship, and human existencealways in process and shaped by different communities, relationships, and contextsis significant to theological construction. As Christian knowledge is a relationship that cannot be communicated directly, theology is never concluded and cannot adequately function within totalizing systems. The writings of seventeenth-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz, provide an exemplary direction for contemporary theologies mindful of this need for indirect communication. Her writings show a respect of others cognitive freedom and their differing perspectives. Powell builds a theological case for the inclusion of literary genres in the theological discipline, a move that resists western philosophys dominance of form and opens the theological canon.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-286) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Toward an inconclusive theology; title: Kierkegaard and the Socratic ignorance of faith; title: The epistemic humility of faith in Sor Juana's letters; title: Sor Juana's Dream and the hiddenness of God; title: Internal persuasion if Sor Juana's dramas; title: Beyond the limits of theological language.