Hope in Action: Subversive Eschatology in the Theology of Edward Schillebeeckx and Johann Baptist Metz

by Steven M. Rodenborn

Overview

This volume contends against a major lacuna in the story of eschatology in the twentieth century by offering a historical and comparative analysis of Edward Schillebeeckx’s prophetic eschatology and Johann Baptist Metz’s apocalyptic eschatology with the goal of identifying relative advantages and limitations of these divergent eschatological frameworks for rendering a Christian account of hope that prompts action in the public arena. Rodenborn provides a fresh angle on eschatologies of hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451487633
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	10/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Steven M. Rodenborn is associate professor of religious and theological studies at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. He earned a Ph.D. in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

Introduction: "Always be ready …" 1

A "Zero-Sum" Theory of Secularization and the Idea of Progress 5

Theology in the Wake of Secularization 11

Outlining the Analysis and Argument 19

1 Metz's Response to Secularization: From a Transcendental-Linear to a Utopic Theology of History 23

A Transcendental-Linear Theology of History 25

The Political Turn to a Utopic Understanding of History and the Practical Character of Hope 40

Consequences of the Political Turn for a Secularization Thesis and Eschatological Hope 54

2 Schillebeeckx's Response to Secularization: From a Merciful Dispensation to Latent Eschatological Hope 69

Secularization as Merciful Dispensation 71

Secularization as Latent Eschatological Hope 90

Theological Consequences of Rethinking Secularization 104

3 Schillebeeckx Contends with a History Marked by Suffering: Contrast Experiences and a Search for Eschatological Hope's Positive Orientation 115

Developments in Schillebeeckx's Practical Eschatology 117

The Influence of Habermas: Orthopraxis as Integral to Eschatology 135

Identifying a Positive Orientation for Eschatological Praxis: The Christian Contribution 149

4 Schillebeeckx's Prophetic Eschatology: Contrast Experiences and Creative Fragments 167

Making Universal Claims in the Ambiguities of History 169

The Ongoing Mediation of Christian Hope in History 181

Schillebeeckx's Rejection of Apocalyptic Eschatology 186

5 Metz Contends with a History Marked by Suffering: Sensitivity to Suffering under the Pressures of Evolutionary Time 199

An Eschatological Resistance to the Distortion of Hope 202

Rethinking Modernity: From the Distortion of Hope to an Age of Apathy 214

Christian Hope in a History of Suffering 238

6 Metz's Apocalyptic Theology of History: Holding Open Hope by Binding History 267

Apocalyptic as Corrective 268

The Praxis of Solidaristic Hope 281

The Centrality of Memoria Passionis 282

Prom Utopic to Apocalyptic 285

Interrupting the Sovereignty of Tuneless Time: God as Subject of History 290

The Theodicy Question: A Negative Theology of Creation 297

Conclusion: "An accounting for the hope …" 307

A Defense of a Practical Hope 308

Placing Metz's and Schillebecckx's Accounts of Hope in Relief 312

Prophetic and Apocalyptic Eschatologies Sustaining a Practical Resistance 333

Postscript: Subversive Eschatology and "Indirect Ecumenism" 337

Bibliography 345

Index of Names 363