Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context
By: Stanley Grenz and John Franke

Grenz and Franke take seriously the postmodern critique of epistemological foundationalism and propose an alternative method for theology that is conversant with the postmodern situation. The following nuggets summarize the enterprise.

Foundationalism and Its Demise

"In the modern era, the pursuit of knowledge was deeply influenced by the thought forms of the Enlightenment, with foundationalism at its heart. The goal of the foundationalist agenda is the discovery of an approach to knowledge that will provide rational human beings with absolute incontestable certainty regarding truthfulness of their beliefs. According to foundationalists, the acquisition of knowledge ought to proceed in a manner somewhat similar to the construction of a building. Knowledge must be built on a sure foundation. The Enlightenment epistemological foundation consists of a set of incontestable beliefs or unassailable first principles on the basis of which the pursuit of knowledge can proceed. These basic beliefs or first principles must be universal, objective, and discernible to any rational person." pg. 23.

The postmodern critique of foundationalism holds that not only is objectivity impossible in a world structured by what concepts, such as language, the observers bring to it, but that there is also no universal rationality existing outside of the community in which one finds himself. As one philosopher puts it, "That (foundationalism) is philosophically indefensible is so widely agreed that its demise is the closest thing to philosophical consensus in decades." pg. 38.

In Christian theology, foundationalism was the behind both liberal and conservative enterprises in the 19th century. Both groups searched for a foundation for theology that could stand firm when subjected to the canons of supposedly universal human reason. Liberal theology took as its foundation universal religious experience. "Conservative theologians sought to build their edifice on the foundation of an error-free bible, which they viewed as a storehouse of divine revelation." pg. 34.

As an alternative to both liberal and conservative foundationalism, the authors propose a theological method that produces a "belief mosaic" or an "interpretive framework" (not a theological edifice-think web instead of tower) rooted in the faith community whose identity is formed by an encounter with the God of the Bible through Jesus Christ.

"Viewing our question in the context of these alternative foundationalist approaches results in the conclusion that the church-and neither religious experience nor the Bible per se-is basic to theology. The church is basic in that our participation in the faith community calls for theological reflection. The very existence of the faith community-the community in which faith is present-leads naturally to the reflection on faith that we call theology. For this reason, theological construction needs no elaborate, foundation-setting, certainty-gaining prolegomenon. Instead, it arises out of the life of the discipleship community who are joined together by the Spirit and who join together living out the mandate they share. Therefore, it is our presence within the Christian community that leads us to engage in the theological task. And the existence of this community provides the only "foundation" necessary for launching into the process of explicating the mosaic of beliefs or the interpretive framework Christians share." pg. 234

Sources for Theology

Scripture

"The normative authority for Christian theology, life, and practice is the Spirit speaking through scripture. The Bible serves as the norming norm in theology in that it functions as the instrumentality of the Spirit. The Spirit appropriate the biblical text in order to address the Christian community through the ages." pg. 24.

Tradition

"Like all Christians everywhere, we read the biblical text today conscious that we are a part of an ongoing listening community and therefore that we are participants in a hermeneutical trajectory. Christian tradition provides a reference point for us today, alerting us to some of the pitfalls we should avoid and pointing us in directions that hold promise as we engage in the theological calling" pg. 24.

Culture

"Culture forms the embedding context for the theological task. The Spirit's speaking through scripture is always a contextual speaking; it always comes to its hearers within a specific historical-cultural context. The specificity of the Spirit's speaking means that the conversation with culture and cultural context is crucial to the hermeneutical task. We seek to listen to the voice of the Spirit through scripture, who speaks to us in the peculiarity of the historical-cultural context in which we live. This hermeneutical process occurs in part as the discoveries and insights of the various disciplines of human learning inform our theological construction." pg. 25.

They authors envision these three sources engaged in a "perichoretic dance" (much like the Trinity) as the church engages in its theological task.

The Structural Motif of Theology: The Trinity

"Taking our cue from the ancient confessions of the church, we claim that Christian theology is always Trinitarian theology. Because Christian theology is committed to finding its basis in the being and action of the triune God, it should be ordered and structured in a manner that reflects the primacy of this fundamental Christian confession." pg. 25.

The Integrative Motif of Theology: Community

"In keeping with the realization that humans are social creatures who image the triune God in relationships, we set forth the case that a Christian theology that is truly Trinitarian will also be completely communitarian. The Trinitarian content of theology leads to a theology that finds its integration through the concept of community, which brings together the various strands of theological reflection into a single web or mosaic." pg. 25

The Orienting Motif of Theology: Eschatology

"Theology must be at every turn directed toward and informed by a Christian understanding of creation's divinely given "telos." Viewed from the eschatological perspective, the ultimate, highest, and final purpose of theology becomes that of articulating the Christian belief-mosaic in accordance with the future world God is fashioning and for the sake of the church's mission as the sign in the present, anticipatory era of the glorious age to come." pg. 26.

Incidentally, the "objective" world modern-foundationalists seek is to be found not in the present world, which is nothing but a socially and linguistically constructed reality that is even now passing way, but in the world as God wills it to be, which is still in the future. pg. 272

In Sum

"In this manner we propose a theological method that gives rise to a theology that lies beyond the demise of foundationalism. Such a theology is the product of the reflection of the Christian community in its local expressions. Despite its local nature, such a theology is in a certain sense global. It explicates the Christian belief-mosaic in accordance with the ecumenical faith of the church through its history and on behalf of the church throughout the world. Moreover, despite its particularity as a specifically Christian theology, such theology is also public. It carries with it an implicit claim to be articulating a belief-mosaic that is "for all" in the only way that any claim to universality can be made, namely, as the belief mosaic of a particular believing community. In doing so, such a theology invites a wider response, just as it is offered as a contribution to the wider public conversation." pg. 26

Copyright ©2002 by Wade Hodges, All Rights Reserved