RT Article
T1 Richard Dawkins, Philip Kennedy and the Augustinian paradigm of Christianity
JF HTS teologiese studies
VO 75
IS 3
A1 Spangenberg, Izak J. J. 1951-
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1946160121
AB Both Richard Dawkins’s book The God Delusion and Philip Kennedy’s book A Modern Introduction to Theology: New Questions for Old Beliefs were published in 2006. This article aims to compare the two books and to argue that Kennedy does not oppose Dawkins’s views but, in fact, debates along similar lines. Kennedy is adamant that the Augustinian paradigm of Christianity no longer makes sense, because it is based on an outdated cosmology and anthropology. He firmly maintains that Christianity requires a new paradigm, which is informed by our current knowledge and worldview. Thomas Kuhn’s ideas of paradigm and paradigm changes in the history of natural sciences are utilised in comparing the books, seeing that Dawkins accepts and works within the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary biology, and Kennedy argues that Christians and Christian theologians adhere to the Augustinian paradigm of Fall-Redemption-Judgement. It is argued that Dawkins should have referred to the paradigm change in the study of the Bible, which occurred towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, and the plea of theologians, like Kennedy, for a paradigm change in theology. The article concludes that only a paradigm change in Christianity, which is in line with the modern worldview, will enable Christians to keep the tradition alive.
K1 Anthropology
K1 Cosmology
K1 Historical-Critical Methods
K1 Paradigm Changes
K1 Philip Kennedy
K1 Richard Dawkins
K1 Fall-Redemption-Judgement
K1 Augustinian Paradigm
K1 Grand Narrative of Christianity
DO 10.4102/hts.v75i3.5084