‘Back to the Fathers’: The Nature of Historical Understanding in 20th century Patristic Ressourcement
Patristic ressourcement is a style of twentieth-century theology that attempts to retrieve and re-appropriate the classical sources of theology in the patristic period for the present. Its goal is thus always beyond a mere curiosity in historical reality. Its historical engagement is rather driven b...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2016
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| In: |
Reviews in religion and theology
Year: 2016, Volume: 23, Issue: 1, Pages: 4-13 |
| Further subjects: | B
theologies of retrieval
B philosophy of history B Book review B historical critical method B Florovsky B Torrance B Ressourcement |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Patristic ressourcement is a style of twentieth-century theology that attempts to retrieve and re-appropriate the classical sources of theology in the patristic period for the present. Its goal is thus always beyond a mere curiosity in historical reality. Its historical engagement is rather driven by the desire to make classical theology ‘alive’ in the present. Such a goal raises a serious question about the nature of historical scholarship carried out in this style of theology: what kind of historical understanding is presupposed by the theologians working in this style? Two recent books have documented the nature of patristic engagement found in two theologians who arguably worked within this style: T. F. Torrance (1913–2007) and Georges Florovsky (1893–1979). This review essay highlights the salient features in these books that provide substantial insights on the question of historical understanding in patristic ressourcement. Because each book carries out a distinct method to understand this style of patristic scholarship, I shall also offer some comments on the merits and limitations of each approach for studying and evaluating the nature of historical understanding in patristic ressourcement. |
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| ISSN: | 1467-9418 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Reviews in religion and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/rirt.12575 |