Interpreting God and the Postmodern Self : On Meaning, Manipulation, and Promise

by Thiselton, Anthony C.

• ISBN13: 9780802841285
• ISBN10: 0802841287
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-12-01
• Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

Summary

Professor Thiselton compares and assesses modern and postmodern interpretations of the self and society on their own terms and in relation to Christian theology. He explores especially claims that appeals to truth constitute no more than disguised bids for power and self-affirmation whether in society or in religion.

Table of Contents

Preface
God as Self-Affirming Illusion? Manipulation, Truth and Language	p. 3
Postmodernism, Modernity and the Postmodern Self	p. 11
Do All Controlling Models in Religion Serve Manipulative Purposes?	p. 19
The Rhetoric of Theological Models and Currencies of Meaning	p. 27
Language, Truth and Life in Theology and Postmodernity	p. 33
Non-Manipulative Interpretation and Truth as Relational	p. 41
Respecting the Other: Transcending Prior Categories and the Limits of Empirical Method	p. 47
Biblical Texts and Pastoral Hermeneutics: History, Science and Personhood	p. 53
A Temporal Hermeneutic of the Self Through the 'Detour' of Texts as 'Other'	p. 59
Five Ways in which Textual Reading Interprets the Self	p. 63
Self-Deception and Sub-Text: Psychoanalysis, Suspicion and Conversation	p. 67
Self-Identity within the Temporal Logic of Narrative Plot	p. 73
The Sea of Faith Network: Interpreting God as a Human Construct	p. 81
Successive Stages in Cupitt's Interpretations of God	p. 87
'Taking leave of God' as Internalizing, De-objectifying and Autonomy	p. 93
Rehearsing an Over-played Script: 'Facts', World-Views and Divine Agency	p. 99
'God's Second Death' in the Postmodern Self: An 'Internalized' God Now?	p. 105
Pluralism or Propaganda? The Forked Rhetoric of Postmodern Interpretation	p. 111
The Collapse of the Hope of the 'Modern' Self: From Active Agency to Passive Situatedness	p. 121
More Social Consequences of Postmodern Selfhood: Despair, Conflict and Manipulation	p. 127
Corporate Power and Corporate Self-Deception	p. 137
Present and Future: The Pluriform Grammar of Hope and the God of Promise	p. 145
Further Issues on 'Interpreting God': Christology and Trinity	p. 153
Will-to-Power De-centred, Transformed and Re-centred in Promise and Love	p. 159
Select Bibliography	p. 165
Index of Names and Subjects	p. 173
Index of Biblical References	p. 179
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