The problem of theological normativity concerns the conflict between the purported eternal, universal, and ahistorical nature of Christian theological and ethical claims and the fact that such claims are always articulated in a particular time and place and, therefore, seem to bear the marks of cultural and historical contingency. My dissertation analyzes a solution offered to this problem by the early 20th century German theologian and philosopher, Ernst Troeltsch, and extends Troeltsch’s argument, making a case for its continued relevance today. I show that Troeltsch’s solution is a social theory of continuity-in-change contending that theological and ethical norms can be historically contingent and still maintain their authority precisely because they change in response to cultural context. This solution is best represented in Troeltsch’s “mystic type,” one of three members of Troeltsch’s typology of the Christian Church. I argue that in the mystic, we find the limits of the creative and spontaneous historical process through which normative values change over time. Through a process of synthesizing values of the past, both latent and conscious, with the challenges, concerns, and values of the present, the mystic type generates genuinely new value content for the meaning of Christianity.

Creator

• Harrison, Joel David

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-bwat-sg39

Subject

• Religion
• Philosophy of Religion
• Theology

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:14554
• etdadmin_upload_648372

Keyword

• Troeltsch
• theology
• historicism
• social theory
• philosophy of religion
• normativity

Date created

• 2019-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright