Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context

Rating:
Summary: Up-to-date(ing) Evangelical theology
Review: As a pastor (from a fundamentalist and Neo-orthodox background) who tries to keep up with what is going on in theology, I found this a fascinating read. Written from an evangelical point of view, it is a very sophisticated engagement with a wide range of theology, past and present. Each chapter has excellent historical background to introduce present theological engagements, as a prelude to the authors' own development of the topic. There is a stead critique of the failure of the Enlightment project and of foundationalisms, including evangelical foundationalisms regarded as inadequate in the post-modern context. The discussion of epistemology was very interesting, especially Reformed epistemology. (I have already ordered W. Jay Wood's Epistemology: Becoming Intellectually Virtuous; part of the value of the book to me is new leads to explore). There is also much dialogue with Pannenberg, about whom Grenz has written a great deal. The discussions of the Trinity and of the place of community are very well done. The book is well written and has helped bring me to date on what I think will be an ongoing area of theological work, (more especially by evangelicals?) It would be interesting to see these authors' evaluation of Milbank and Radical Orthodoxy. However I can imagine that a lot of evangelicals are a bit alarmed as to where all this is going.

Rating:
Summary: Some Good Insights, but Vague and not too Original
Review: In this book, Grenz and Franke attempt to articulate a sound theological method that addresses the postmodern context. There are certainly some great strides made in that direction in this book, but there are also some significant shortcomings. In what follows, I will try to outline both the strides and the shortcomings of "Beyond Foundationalism" in some sort of fair and even-handed way.

First, the strides taken in this book toward developing a sound theological method to address the postmodern context.

1) Grenz and Franke are, I think very much on the right track when they honestly take stock of the empistemic shortcomings of foundationalism and external (naïve) realism that have for the most part dominated evangelical theologizing since the 19th century. The insights of social constructionists, communitarians and deconstructionists are (or should be) very important for theologians to consider and engage in constructing a theological method. Grenz and Franke do just that. This is a much more refreshing and helpful approach than the militant, overblown and often blatantly uninformed responses to postmodernism by evangelicals like Millard Erickson and Douglas Groothius.

2) Grenz and Franke also hit on some very important theological foci for determining the nature of a theological method. Their reflections on Scripture, Tradition and Culture are a welcome change from typically blind and dogmatic evangelical biblicism.

3) Also, Grenz and Franke's use of Trinitarian theology for informing the structure and content of theological refelction is very laudable and necessary. For far too long evangelical theology has been committed primarily to the doctrine of the "one god" unitarianly conceived, rather than the triune God of the biblical narrative. While, Grenz and Franke's use of the Trinity in theology is hardly cutting edge (European theologians have been doing Trinitarian theology since Barth), it is helpful to the evangelical audience.

4) In addition, the motif of community, while somewhat overdone, is an important corrective to the rampant individualism that still characterizes evangelical theology. Moreover, the authors are careful to ground theology in specifically Christian understandings of community rather than generic forms of community as such.

5) Finally, the desire for theology to maintain an eschatological orientation and focus, is very laudable and helps to reverse the abysmal and often simply silly and stupid overemphasis on false conceptions of eschatology that characterize much of popular evangelicalism (i.e. the "Left Behind" series).

However, there are a number of shortcomings in Grenz and Franke's work as well.

1) While the authors dance on the grave of foundationalism (rightly so), I'm not sure the alternative that they offer is clearly defined and argued. While they point to the insights of social constructionists and communitiarians, combined with coherence and pragmatic insights, often using Quine's metaphor of the "web of belief", they do not clearly define their understanding of a properly theological epistemology. Their notion of an "eschatological realism" (derived from Pannenberg) is very promising and helpful, but it is not explored in depth. The authors greatly need to clarify their epistemic proposals in light of their critique of foundationalism.

2) There is a significant lack of engagement with sophisticated contemporary thinkers that would likely oppose Grenz and Franke's proposal. In particular, the substantial work of Alvin Plantinga is neglected. Commensurate with this, their description and appropriation of Reformed Epistemology, is I think a far cry from how Reformed Epistemologists would characterize their position. Also, there is a surprising lack of engagement with postmodern continental philosophy. Derrida and Heidegger are scarcely mentioned in the book, let alone engaged. It seems that the authors are simply engaging Anglo-American postmodernity, rather than the full spectrum of major postmodern movements.

3) In their constructive work on Scripture, Grenz and Franke's argument that the Spirit simply appropriates the biblical text, thus making it authoritative is not at all convincing. Moreover, their use of Speech-Act theory to argue for this approach simply makes some substantial mistakes. They argue that the Spirit "speaking through Scripture" is the illocutionary act, leading to the perlocutionary effect of the Spirit "creating world." However, they forget the speaking is not an illocutionary act, rather an illocutionary act is what is done in speaking. Thus, they never make clear what the relationship is between the words of the text itself (and the communicative intent of the author, which they simply dismiss without argument) and the work of the Spirit. The work of Kevin Vanhoozer is far superior and better argued in regard to the question of Scripture, the Spirit and authority.

4) Also, the author's focus on community, while helpful in many ways, ends up eclipsing the Kingdom of God as the integrative motif of theology. They claim that the kingdom of God is contentless and as such cannot be theology's integrative motif. However, this is only true if one ignores the massive material in Scripture on the nature of the Kingdom. The Kingdom does indeed have content (including community!), but that content must be gleaned from interpreting the biblical narrative. Grenz and Franke simply subsume the Kingdom into community, rather than following what I take to be the biblical picture in which the reverse is the case.

5) Finally, and this a recurring frustration I have with Grenz's work, all throughout, there is an annoying vagueness in their descriptions and proposals that sometimes becomes careless. The vagueness in their proposals, makes this book a much better critique of inferior positions than a work in constructive theological reflection. This is compounded with a tendency to be extremely repetitive. Some of the sections in this book are simply cut and pasted from Grenz's earlier work, and in a couple of cases from within the book itself! I can't help but find this tendency in Grenz's scholarship to be a disappointment.

This is certainly an important work and should be read, but it is hardly the final word, or even a definitive word on the nature of theological method in the postmodern conext. While, it contains much in the way of helpful and thought stirring reflections on contemporary culture and theology, it is also a bit unoriginal an vague.

In addition to this book, I recommend: James K.A. Smith, "The Fall of Interpretation", Kevin Vanhoozer, "Is There a Meaning in this Text?", "First Theology", and Colin Gunton, "The Promise of Trinitarian Theology."

Rating:
Summary: Not What I Hoped
Review: This was a tough read-- very theoretical and philosophical and sometimes convoluted. I found the lines of reasoning confusing and sometimes contradictory. Although many sections of the discussion are very well done, conclusions often do not seem to follow from the arguments.

Authors are attempting to arrive at a set of principles for doing theology in the present "postmodern" era, but stop at articulating the principles without really offering concrete examples of how those principles would be properly applied. That is, they give no examples of the final theological ideas that would emerge from applying these principles. Thus, although I sensed they are laying the groundwork for a further agenda, it is not clear to me what it is. The devil is in the details-- the specifics-- and this book is short on specific applications of the principles it offers. I found myself agreeing on many of their broadly stated summary points, but suspicious at many other points that they are simply preparing to repackage conservative, evangelical, "Bible-believing" dogma in some new lingo-wrapping the old in a lot of smoke-and-mirrors talk about the new.

I found value in the surveys of recent and current theological perspectives and conceptual development presented with each topic.

Rather than moving "beyond foundationalism"-- a proposition I find somewhat dubious-- the authors might actually just be offering a new set of foundations that are not all that different from some of the old ones. In particular, they seem to accord the Bible ultimate authority. While I think they make some good points, I don't think they have identified the principles that can move Christian thought toward more integrity and relevance. Too much head and not enough heart and soul.