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Pro Veritate: A Case for a Method of Concordance in Theology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
Abstract
Given the many modern and post‐modern fashions of reasoning, this contribution is a programmatic proposal for a new kind of thinking in the field of theology. It is deliberately called a “method of concordance,” and it relies in the first place on a semantic exploration and a conceptual analysis of the term ‘concordance’ itself. Hence making an appeal to the heart, this method aims at integrating all human capacities in the never‐ending search for truth. With a view to do that, a firm confidence in the unfolding of reality and an enlargement of the concept of reason are regarded both as indispensable and wise. It is further argued that the proposal for a method of concordance can rely on efforts made in the history of thought, among others, by Anselm, Jaspers, and Baader. Next to these probably unexpected references, an appeal is also made to contemporary thinkers such as Hebblethwaite, Turner, Valadier, and Desmond. The article concludes with pointing to some methodological and epistemological consequences of a method of concordance, and thereby elucidates why speaking ‘for’ truth is to be preferred over speaking ‘about’ truth.
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- © The author 2008. Journal compilation © The Dominican Council/Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2008, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK, and 350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148, USA
References
1 This is not an article in the usual sense of the word, nor is it a scientific discussion of a complex problem. Rather, this contribution is an honest and a modest exercise in theological and philosophical thinking. It is a programmatic proposal, which certainly needs further elaboration through criticism and research. The text as it stands came into being in the context of postdoctoral seminars which were organised by the GOA‐project Orthodoxy: Process and Product at the Faculteit Godgeleerdheid of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. These seminars involved both systematic theologians and church historians. Some of the members of this research group invited me to develop my ideas on the central issue of the project: the question of (theological) truth. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all of them for their ongoing encouragement and critique: Lieven Boeve, Dirk Claes, Yves De Maeseneer, Wim François, Mathijs Lamberigts, Johan Leemans, and Terrence Merrigan. I am also grateful to Reuben Hardie, who carefully corrected an earlier English version of the present text.
2 When speaking about method in theology, it is nearly impossible not to refer to Bernard Lonergan's decisive study on the subject Method in Theology (London 19732). I particularly like his idea that method is “a framework for collaborative creativity” rather than “a set of rules to be followed meticulously by a dolt” (p. xi). I moreover presume that much of what I say below is in line with Lonergan's basic intuitions and position.
3 In this regard, the following collection of articles deserves attention, since it is published by a theologian and a cardiologist alike: Geerlings, Wilhelm & Mügge, Andreas (Eds.), Das Herz. Organ und Metapher (Paderborn 2006)Google Scholar.
4 Pascal, Blaise, Pensées. Texte établi par Louis Lafuma (Paris 1962) nr. 423Google Scholar.
5 The journal appeared from the summer of 1820 until the summer of 1823 in six issues, and was regarded as the ‘official’ voice of later romanticism (in Vienna and Munich). Among the contributors were Schlegel Friedrich, Adam Müller, and Franz von Baader. See Behler, Ernst, Friedrich Schlegel, in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten dargestellt (Reinbek bei Hamburg 1966),131–135Google Scholar.
6 Plato famously saw no other “archè” (begin, principle) for philosophy than “to thaumazein” (to be surprised) (Theaetetus, 155d). This fundamental intuition has found a beautiful and profound actualisation in a masterpiece written by a much too less known Dutch philosopher: Cornelis Verhoeven, Inleiding tot de verwondering (Budel 1990 [originally 1967]).
7 A useful and interesting overview of past and present philosophical truth theories is given in Lynch, Michael P. (Ed.), The Nature of Truth. Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (Cambridge, MA/London 2001CrossRefGoogle Scholar). Besides its nice introductions, this volume also provides (translations of) groundbreaking primary texts.
8 ‘Safe’ is put between brackets because it is by no means evident that the precinct of the subject is really safe; I fully realise that the deepest levels of human existence may not automatically disclose safeness and security (instead of, e.g., anxiety or distress); for a profound exploration of this one can consult the work of the Flemish philosopher Rudi Visker (mainly Truth and Singularity and The Inhuman Condition). However, what I want to stress here is that the exclusive attention for human subjectivity, as such, to the detriment of other ‘levels’ or ‘areas’ of being, is in the long run injurious, not least for human subjectivity itself.
9 Anselm, De Veritate, Book XII: “incivem sese definiunt veritas et rectitudo et iustitia.”
10 I realise that Baader's work remains almost completely unknown (and sometimes even suspicious) in contemporary theology and philosophy. Perhaps my Revelation, Reason and Reality. Theological Encounters with Jaspers, Schelling and Baader (Leuven/Paris/Dudley, MA 2007) can do something about this deplorable lack of scholarly interest.
11 Desmond's philosophy has been recently discussed in Kelly, Thomas F.A. (Ed.), Between System and Poetics. William Desmond and Philosophy after Dialectic (Aldershot 2007)Google Scholar.
12 This very idea brings the proposal of a method of concordance in a close relationship to Guarino's balanced defence of a philosophical and theological realism. Cf. Guarino, Thomas G., Foundations of Systematic Theology (New York/London 2005)Google Scholar.
13 Schleiermacher, Friedrich D.E., On Religion. Speeches to its Cultured Despisers, tr. Crouter, Richard (Cambridge 1996), 17Google Scholar.