Theology And The Dialectics Of History

Doran draws extensively on the thought of Bernard Lonergan, and the work develops Lonergan's methodological insights.

In this challenging work Robert M. Doran explores the basis of systematic theology in consciousness, and goes on to consider the practical role of such theology in establishing and fostering communities with an authentic way of life. This way of life would counteract the distortions and deformations of humanity that are exemplified by both late capitalism and Marxism. Theology positions and interpretations today, argues Doran, must be stated in the categories of a theory of history. The first part of the book outlines the horizon required for such categories. The second,, third, and fourth parts incrementally derive the categories expressing a theory of history in terms of the reciprocal relations among subjects, cultures, and social structures. The final part, on hermeneutics, oresents an argument for the pertinence of what has preceded for interpreting the words and deeds of others. Doran draws extensively on the thought of Bernard Lonergan, and the work develops Lonergan's methodological insights. It issues a call to persona; genuineness and authenticity, informed by religious, moral, intellectual, affective, and psychic 'conversions,' by 'interior' differentiation of one's consciousness, and by Christian faith, on the parts of theologians who aspire to arrest effectively the course of cultural decline.

Drawing on the thought of Bernard Lonergan, The Death and Life of Speculative Theology narrates the rise and fall of speculative theology, retrieves and transposes its central achievements, and shows how it might be renewed as a modern science for a modern culture.

The second volume of Robert M. Doran’s magisterial The Trinity in History continues his exploration of the Trinitarian theology of Bernard Lonergan, focusing now on the notions of relations and persons and connecting the systematic proposals with the so-called "Third Quest for the Historical Jesus." Doran not only interprets Lonergan’s major work in Trinitarian theology and Christology but also suggests at least a twofold advance: a new version of the psychological analogy for understanding Trinitarian doctrine and a new starting point for the whole of systematic theology. He links these theological concerns with René Girard’s mimetic theory, proposes a theory of history based in Lonergan’s scale of values, and creates a link between exegetical and historical scholarship and systematic theology.

Theology and the New Histories explores how Christianity, as an historical religion, is responding to the challenge of multiple readings of history—women’s history, history written from the perspective of minority groups, new sources of history, including those that are non-Western, and deconstructionist history. These new histories pose challenges to the assumptions of traditional theology. They also affect our understanding of the history of Christianity and of the development of Christian doctrine. Contributors include: Terrence W. Tilley, Justo L. González, Michael Horace Barnes, Vincent J. Miller, Elizabeth A. Clark, Barbara Green, O.P., Ann R. Riggs, Donna Teevan, James T. Fisher, Pamela Kirk, Ann Coble, Franklin H. Littell, Brian F. Linnane, and Margaret R. Pfeil.