Autor: Crowe, Frederich E., S.J.

Buch: Theology of the Christian Word

Titel: Theology of the Christian Word

Stichwort: Heuritisches Prinzip: Wort Gottes; Thematisierung: positiv - negativ

Kurzinhalt: The clue is in the act of naming the relevant materials the word of God; to name a certain reality "the word of God" was an act of thematizing

Textausschnitt: 15a With the problem defined in this way, we begin. For this first step, if we are not just to cast about in trial and error, we need some sort of clue, and I suggest that the clue is provided in the very phrase we have been using to describe our topic, the Christian word of God. I do not mean that the clue is found in the content of the term; that simply adds one more to the tangled nest already formed by gospel, preaching, teaching, tradition, catechesis, and the rest. The clue is in the act of naming the relevant materials the word of God. There is a thematizing here, that thematizing is an event, and the event carries us forward and sets us on a path through history. At some point in time, and in some discrete occurrence, the materials about which we have been talking came to be recognized as the word of God. If we can locate that occurrence, and study the materials before and after the event, we will be launched on the path we are searching for. I believe that it is relatively simple to conclude to such a transition, and to describe both the "before" and "after" stages of history; though we cannot locate the point of transition with the accuracy we would desire, there is still sufficient clarity to structure our first two chapters. (Fs) (notabene)

15b This act of "naming" a topic for theological reflection, of thematizing a set of materials under a certain aspect, brings into focus the point often made about the selective process of history. Realities exist before they are named, and the naming generally points only to a certain aspect that does not by any means exhaust the reality. Isaac, ...

16a In the same way, to name a certain reality "the word of God" was also an act of thematizing. The reality already existed; it existed in the rich life of the Christian community and the diverse activities by which that community tried to assimilate, put into practice, and hand on what it had received from Jesus and his first disciples. When the rich and diversified materials that constituted this reality came to be known as the word of God, both loss and gain resulted. There was gain in the new insight achieved, in the recognition of God's part in all this activity, in the deepening penetration of the mystery of his dealings with his children. But there was loss in the resulting tendency to leave the human element in the background. As the definition of the divinity of Christ led almost inevitably to neglect of his humanity, so the idea that God had spoken to his people in the Christian message led the church to neglect the human agents of the message and the particular cultural situations in which communication of the message to human receivers took place. (Fs)