Overview

Despite its controversy, experience remains a perdurable category for contemporary theology. This book explores the appeal to experience in the Christologies of Friedrich Schleiermacher and Karl Rahner, two theologians often accused of reducing theology to anthropology by allowing apologetic concerns to dictate their method in their appeal to experience. This work demonstrates that both theologians develop their hermeneutics under the tutelage of theology even while using experience as a category by which to provide leverage in apprehending Jesus. Both the perils and possibilities of their Christologies are explored in preparation for an account of experience construed sacramentally.

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«In this excellent study Allen G. Jorgenson ably demonstrates that the best apologetic is not a good dogmatic theology (Karl Barth) but a faithful doxology - one that arises from the specifically Christian experience of the divine presence in Christ actualized in the sacramental life of the church. Following an acutely perceptive and appreciatively critical analysis of the respective apologetic strategies of Schleiermacher and Rabner, it is to this fundamental affirmation of his own Lutheran tradition that Dr. Jorgenson turns in order to support his conclusion that eucharistic doxology is the fitting apologetic prolegomenon to dogmatics. Thoroughly competent, spirited, and fluently written, this book is sure to reach a wide readership including students and scholars of Schleiermacher and Rabner in particular as well as all persons eager to advance and enrich their understanding of the nature of Christian experience construed sacramentally and its essential place in the wider context of apologetic/dogmatic theology.

In this excellent study Allen G. Jorgenson ably demonstrates that the best apologetic is not a good dogmatic theology (Karl Barth) but a faithful doxology - one that arises from the specifically Christian experience of the divine presence in Christ actualized in the sacramental life of the church. Following an acutely perceptive and appreciatively critical analysis of the respective apologetic strategies of Schleiermacher and Rahner, it is to this fundamental affirmation of his own Lutheran tradition that Dr. Jorgenson turns in order to support his conclusion that eucharistic doxology is the fitting apologetic prolegomenon to dogmatics. Thoroughly competent, spirited, and fluently written, this book is sure to reach a wide readership including students and scholars of Schleiermacher and Rahner in particular as well as all persons eager to advance and enrich their understanding of the nature of Christian experience construed sacramentally and its essential place in the wider context of apologetic/ dogmatic theology. (Iain Nicol, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, Knox College, University of Toronto) Allen G. Jorgenson describes how Friedrich Schleiermacher and Karl Rahner sought to combine classical Christian doctrine with an apologetic appeal to human experience. The analysis is persuasive and the style clear, making the book a pleasure to read. In a final chapter Jorgenson shows us how the best way 'into' experience may well be through the sacraments. His wonderfully imaginative accounts of Baptism and Eucharist will be appreciated by readers across a wide range of Christian traditions. (Joseph Mangina, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto)

Author Information

The Author: Allen G. Jorgenson is Assistant Principal and Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in systematic theology at the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto. He has published essays in the fields of Christology and sacramental theology and on Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, and Martin Luther.

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