Dynamics of Theology

by Roger Haight

The award-winning author of Jesus Symbol of God here introduces the discipline of theology. Jesuit Haight provides the fundamental grounds for retrieval of traditional doctrine in new interpretations that bear upon our life in the world today.

Genres: Theology

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Roger Haight was an American Jesuit theologian and president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. His experiences with censorship led to widespread debate over how to handle controversial ideas in the Catholic church today.

Reviews

[Monte Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This work grew out of a perception of a special problem in theological education today. . . . More than at any time in the previous history of the human race current intellectual culture is conscious of historicity. Along with this historical consciousness comes a sense of contingency, pluralism, and change. . . . If everything is historical relative, so that no stable formulation of truth is available for us, does this lead inevitably to the undermining of all values and finally to some kind of nihilism? (ix)

This work is an essay in fundamental or foundational theology. It consists in a reflection on the foundations upon which theological statements rest.
(x)

I have chosen five main areas in which to locate the fundamental principles or foundations of theological assertion. . . . These five topics are faith, revelation, scripture, religious symbol, and methodology.

The underlying theme of this essay is critical or questioning. . . . My goal is to provide grounds for the creative interpretation or reinterpretation of traditional doctrines. Historical consciousness toady is a given. The intention here is show that the reaction to historical consciousness should not be reactionary, in such a way that it withdraws from culture to find an enclave of security in the repetition of what appear to many in our world as the archaic formulas of a past world. In a way, one must ask the searching questions that that undermine every fundamentalistic reliance on tradition in order to open up a new security of insight and illuminating meaning which allows that same tradition to come alive again within an historical consciousness." (xi)

We are genuinely moving into dramatically new frontiers in our common humanity and as a church. Unless the church in its ministers and ministries can find the freedom which is engendered by historical consciousness to dramatically reinterpret its message, it will not preserve that message but surely compromise and even contradict it by default. What is required then is a conscious release from traditionalism in order to keep the tradition alive and meaning. And this requires a critical understanding of the very foundations of theology.

Thus the goal of this book is to provide the fundamental grounds for the retrieval of traditional doctrine in new creative interpretations that come to bear upon life in our world as it is today." (xxi)

Haight, Roger. Dynamics of Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books; Malleswaram West, Bangalore, India: Claretian Publications, 1990, 2001.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Western culture is moving into a new as yet unnamed era. The term postmodern doesn't quite fit, but we are certainly long past the Aristotelian and Newtonian eras. In this book, Roger Haight explains the task of theology and outlines a method for doing it that takes into account the intellectual cultures that we live in---a world of pluralisms which calls into question every tradition and the notion of truth itself.
He offers a bracing exposition of the concepts of faith, revelation, scripture, and symbol and convincingly shows the need in every age to reinterpret the ongoing experience of transcendence. His method of correlation goes beyond the historical form of religious symbol to its communicative point, to what is being revealed now. It pulls apparently disparate ideas that are not unfamiliar but which were not quite cogently connected into a unified picture. It is not an easy read, but very clearly written and absolutely worth the effort. I look forward to taking on his next book in which he applies the method to Jesus, the central Christian symbol.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of his seminal books, Haight tries to explain what is theology. He introduces all sorts of terms like hermenutics and eschatology that are necessary if one is to understand the language of theology. Another tough read, good thing I have a book group for this one.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I like it? I wasn't inspired but did get a good look at a contemporary theologian's work. Assigned for an intro class.