Faith in History and Society Toward a Practical Fundamental Theology

by Metz, Johann Baptist

• ISBN13: 9780824525545
• ISBN10: 082452554X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-01
• Publisher: Herder & Herder

Summary

This now classic book presented on the 30th anniversary of its first appearance is universally acknowledged as the great classic of Metz's remarkable career, and indeed of all political theology. It is presented here in a new translation with an extensive study guide for readers and teachers.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second German Edition	p. xi
Introduction: The Path to Faith in History and Society	p. 1
From Auerbach to Munster: The Biographical Background to Metz's Work	p. 2
The Birth of Political Theology	p. 9
Faith in History and Society and Beyond	p. 17
Concept
Between Evolution and Dialectics: On the Point of Departure for a Contemporary Fundamental Theology	p. 23
The Necessity and Particular Character of an Assessment of Our Situation	p. 23
The "Apologetic-Practical" Character of a Contemporary Fundamental Theology	p. 25
Apology from a Biblical Perspective	p. 27
Outside the Territory of the System	p. 29
Roundabout Ways to a Practical Fundamental Theology: An Attempt at a Historical Self-Assessment	p. 31
The Apologetical Front	p. 33
The Dissolution of the Apologetical Front Line by More Recent Theologies	p. 38
Pyrrhic Victory over the Enlightenment - or, The Secret Enthronement of the Bourgeois Subject in Theology	p. 42
Political Theology of the Subject as a Theological Critique of Bourgeois Religion	p. 46
Privatization	p. 48
The Crisis for Tradition	p. 50
The Crisis for Authority	p. 52
The Crisis of (Metaphysical) Reason	p. 55
Religion in Crisis	p. 57
The Need for a Political Theology of the Subject	p. 58
The Concept of a Political Theology as a Practical Fundamental Theology	p. 60
The Practical Foundation of Christian Theology - or, What Does the "Primacy of Praxis" Mean?	p. 61
The Struggle for the Subject - or, Practical Fundamental Theology as the Political Theology of the Subject	p. 70
Religion in the Historical Struggle for Humanity	p. 78
The Faith of Christians in History and Society	p. 81
Themes
The Dangerous Memory of Jesus Christ: On the Church's Presence in Society	p. 87
The Theological and Ecclesial Importance of This Theme	p. 87
The Theological Basis	p. 88
Options with a Practical-Critical Intent	p. 92
The Future Seen from the Memory of Suffering: On the Dialectic of Progress	p. 97
The Socio-Political Context	p. 97
Nature and History	p. 102
The Future from the Remembrance of Suffering	p. 105
God as the Eschatological Subject of History?	p. 110
Redemption and Emancipation	p. 114
Articulating the Theme	p. 114
Emancipation, Universal and Total	p. 115
History of Redemption - History of Freedom - History of Suffering	p. 118
For a Theology of Redemption That Remembers and That Narrates	p. 127
Church and People: On the Forgotten Subject of Faith	p. 128
A Brief Status Report on a "Schism"	p. 128
The Church and the People's History of Suffering - or, The Price of Orthodoxy	p. 130
Paradigm for a Church of the People?	p. 136
Theology and the People	p. 138
A Vision of a Global Church as a Church of a New People	p. 142
Transcendental-Idealist or Narrative-Practical Christianity? Theology and Christianity's Contemporary Identity Crisis	p. 144
A Historical Crisis of Identity in Christianity? Theories, Symptoms, Reactions	p. 144
Theological Theories on Today's Christianity: A Spectrum of Positions	p. 146
Initial Questions for the Theory of the Anonymous Christian	p. 149
A Fairy Tale: Read against the Grain	p. 150
Unveiling the Hedgehog Trick - or, A Critique of the Transcendental-Idealist Versions of Safeguarding Identity	p. 151
A Plea for a Narrative-Practical Christianity	p. 152
Hope as Imminent Expectation -or, The Struggle for Lost Time: Untimely Theses on Apocalyptic	p. 156
Symptoms of Timelessness	p. 156
Timelessness as System	p. 158
Theology under the Spell of Timelessness	p. 159
Against the Spell of Timelessness: Remembering Apocalyptic	p. 162
Against False Alternatives in Christian Eschatology	p. 164
Categories
Memory	p. 169
Sketching the Shape of the Problem: Memory as a Fundamental Concept?	p. 170
Two Traditions for Understanding Memory and the Form in Which They Are Mediated	p. 171
Memory within the Sphere of Hermeneutics and Critique	p. 174
Memory as the Medium in Which Reason Becomes Practical as Freedom: Characterization and Consequences	p. 179
Excursus: Dogma as Dangerous Memory	p. 182
Narrative	p. 186
Narrative and Experience	p. 187
On the Practical and Performative Significance of Narrative	p. 188
On the Pastoral and Social-Critical Significance of Storytelling	p. 190
The Theological Significance of Narrative: Narrative as a Medium for Salvation and History	p. 192
On the Narrative Depth Structure of Practical-Critical Reason	p. 195
Questions and Horizons	p. 196
Excursus: Theology as Biography?	p. 198
Solidarity	p. 208
A General Definition in the Context of a Practical Fundamental Theology	p. 208
Solidarity only among the Rational?	p. 211
Global Solidarity?	p. 212
Reading Questions	p. 215
Notes	p. 247
Index of Names	p. 279
Index of Subjects	p. 283
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