As I continue marching towards the end of this book, Graven Ideologies by Bruce Benson (I've had to stop and start due to exams and stuff) I reached some stuff on Martin Heidegger, faith, theology and philosophy. I'm just gonna write an excerpt below:
"Faith is the lived experience of the Christian believer, mediated by revelation and Christian history. Theology is "the science that faith motivates and justifies" (Heidegger, Pathmarks, 1998). Thus the task of theology is to understand the experience of faith. Faith is the content and theology merely supplies the form. Now, "if faith would totally oppose a conceptual interpretation, then theology would be a thoroughly inappropriate means of grasping its object, faith" (Heidegger, Pathmarks, 1998). Yet Heidegger clearly thinks that faith does not oppose (and should not oppose) the attempt of theology to make sense of faith. For faith needs the "formation" supplied by theology." pg 184.
So then what of philosophy? How does that come into the mix? Benson writes that he see's at least two roles that Heidegger outlines. Firstly, it helps us understand the experience of faith. There are some things that remain particular to Christian faith - i.e. guilt. He believes that philosophy can explain a more general human experience of guilt (as opposed to the particular) that does not replace the faith experience, but creates a larger experiential context and broader understanding.
Secondly, theology is not a philosophy-free zone. Heidegger points out that theology is founded in faith, but it also use what he calls "free operations of reason" which by Benson's read lends itself towards philosophy (perhaps more specifically, metaphysics). But this "free operations of reason" is not some disembodied logic that seeks to disemble theology, but corrective reasoning that clarifies theology.
So all up faith experience is the content, theology is the form that is founded in faith and draws from reason, philosophy supplies this reason and is able to provide a corrective by being able to observe the more general human experience rather than just the particular faith experience.
"Faith is the lived experience of the Christian believer, mediated by revelation and Christian history. Theology is "the science that faith motivates and justifies" (Heidegger, Pathmarks, 1998). Thus the task of theology is to understand the experience of faith. Faith is the content and theology merely supplies the form. Now, "if faith would totally oppose a conceptual interpretation, then theology would be a thoroughly inappropriate means of grasping its object, faith" (Heidegger, Pathmarks, 1998). Yet Heidegger clearly thinks that faith does not oppose (and should not oppose) the attempt of theology to make sense of faith. For faith needs the "formation" supplied by theology." pg 184.
So then what of philosophy? How does that come into the mix? Benson writes that he see's at least two roles that Heidegger outlines. Firstly, it helps us understand the experience of faith. There are some things that remain particular to Christian faith - i.e. guilt. He believes that philosophy can explain a more general human experience of guilt (as opposed to the particular) that does not replace the faith experience, but creates a larger experiential context and broader understanding.
Secondly, theology is not a philosophy-free zone. Heidegger points out that theology is founded in faith, but it also use what he calls "free operations of reason" which by Benson's read lends itself towards philosophy (perhaps more specifically, metaphysics). But this "free operations of reason" is not some disembodied logic that seeks to disemble theology, but corrective reasoning that clarifies theology.
So all up faith experience is the content, theology is the form that is founded in faith and draws from reason, philosophy supplies this reason and is able to provide a corrective by being able to observe the more general human experience rather than just the particular faith experience.
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