Around the traps
Norm has continued his entertaining “theologian trading card” series with a nice one on Karl Barth. And MM has started posting on the analogia entis conference. In her opening post, she gives this summary: “The tone was reverent and charitable, and climaxed with a breathtaking set of remarks by David Bentley Hart. Needless to say, Bruce Marshall’s presentation was the best. And Bruce McCormack indicated that he had changed his mind.” Speaking of conferences, the next one to go to will be the Chicago conference for David Tracy on Augustine: Theological and Philosophical Conversations (and don’t forget about this one either).
Meanwhile, Seth urges writers (God help us) to write like a blogger. And Jon is back with a brand new blog and a very catchy title: Mixophilosophicotheologia. Meanwhile, the latest issue of Studies in Christian Ethics features a very helpful symposium on managerialism in the church. Especially noteworthy is Bernd Wannenwetsch’s excellent essay, “Inwardness and Commodification: How Romanticist Hermeneutics Prepared the Way for the Culture of Managerialism”, together with John Milbank’s polemical anti-Calvinist piece, “‘Stale Expressions: The Management-Shaped Church”. And speaking of managerial stupidities, Kevin has an entertaining observation about church architecture, while Halden was lucky enough to observe the worst church sign ever.
6 Comments:
Ben,
Please explain what it meant by "Bruce McCormack changed his mind." On what? The analogia entis? Trinity as a function of election? Pray tell!
Well, I wasn't there myself, and I haven't seen McCormack's paper. But I can assure you it wouldn't have been a change of mind over the Trinity/election question! No doubt MM's comment has something to do with the analogia entis.
Just a quick follow-up on this: I asked McCormack about it, and he said his paper hadn't expressed any change of mind about the analogia entis. He had just expressed his respect for his Catholic metaphysical friends, and he emphasised that his own critique of metaphysics wasn't a ready-made "one size fits all" critique. So he wasn't changing his mind about anything — but his point was really that not all analogiae entis are the same thing, so that contemporary exponents of the analogia deserve a patient and generous reading, not a quick dismissal.
Ben, Anonymous,
I was (rather glibly!) referring to a very generous and gracious remark that McCormack made at the end of the conference- in commending his colleagues, McCormack simply said that he had a lot to learn about metaphysics. Or something like that. I was impressed.
'As Ratzinger told us, we've got plenty of good answers to 16th century questions... but now people wonder whether there is a God at all. Or a Jesus. Or a Church. And regardless, feminists won't let us speak freely about them anyway [my emphasis].'
WTF?!
David Hart, God love him, is a bit ill every time I see him at conferences. And this is always, God love him, qualified by endless apologies for his slight acrimony. But, God bless him, he's never dull nor short-sighted in making up for the truncated middle. So, glad he's still making the rounds with verve, spunk, and a few chemically enhanced comments (and songs).
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