Faith in the living God : a dialogue / John Polkinghorne and Michael Welker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Polkinghorne, J. C., 1930-2021.

Contributor:

Welker, Michael, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jesus Christ.

Theology, Doctrinal--Introductions.

Theology, Doctrinal.

God.

Holy Spirit.

Faith.

Religion and science.

Genre:

Introductions.

Physical Description:

viii, 151 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First Fortress Press edition.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : Fortress, 2001.

Summary:

This exciting volume invites the reader to join in an intellectual and personal adventure, engaging mind and heart in a search for religious truth and "the living God."

Polkinghorne and Welker, two of today's most respected and daring religious thinkers, here look freshly at Christianity's central theological questions. In a mutual encounter that allows a presentation by each with a reply by the other, they probe crucial issues of belief in God, Christian faith and hope, life in the Spirit, and the tenability of faith in light of current science and culture. Eschewing polemics, they show how our contemporary horizon re-illumines an ancient faith and how faith in turn offers a radical critique of our most cherished assumptions.

Contents:

Differences 1

Age and family 1

Church and culture 2

Education and profession 3

Audiences and primary partners in dialogue 4

Commonalities 5

The Structure of the Project 5

Part I Faith in the Living God

1. Faith in God the Creator / John Polkinghorne 9

Faith 9

God 12

Creator 14

Perspectives on Reality 16

Windows onto Reality: Light and Darkness 19

Comments: Is There a Natural Awareness of God? / Michael Welker 23

How do we access 'foundational events of the tradition of faith'? 24

Do the 'dark sides of creation' affect our values and morals? 25

Reply: Knowledge of God / John Polkinghorne 25

2. Faith in God the Creator / Michael Welker 28

The God Who Created Me: Strength and Danger of the Existentialist Reduction 28

Creation in Just Six Days? The Subtlety of the Biblical Creation Accounts 31

Faith, Witness and the Limits of Naturalistic Thought 32

Comments: Mind and Heart / John Polkinghorne 36

Reply: 'The Issue of Truth is Paramount' / Michael Welker 37

3. Faith in Christ / John Polkinghorne 40

Beyond Deism 40

Personal Engagement 41

Jesus of Nazareth 43

The Resurrection 46

Christian Belief 48

Comments: Critical and Self-Critical realism / Michael Welker 54

What does the cross reveal? 55

The fullness of Christ's life in the resurrection 56

Sacrifice and victimization 57

Reply: Incarnational Reality / John Polkinghorne 58

4. Faith in Christ / Michael Welker 60

Faith in Christ as Faith in the Resurrected 60

Faith and Change of Lordship 62

Faith and Canonic Remembrance 63

Faith by which God Elevates and Ennobles Us 65

Faith as Hope for Creation 66

Comments: Witness to the Risen Christ / John Polkinghorne 67

Reply: 'A Balance Between Boldness and Careful Self-Criticism' / Michael Welker 69

5. Faith in the Holy Spirit / John Polkinghorne 71

The Hidden Spirit 71

The Activity of the Spirit 72

The Presence of the Spirit 76

The Human Spirit 78

Comments: The Working of the Spirit 'From Below' and 'From Above' / Michael Welker 80

Omnicausing, omnipresent, omnipotent 80

The Spirit as 'the fellow-sufferer, who understands'? 81

The Spirit and the discernment of distortive and creative differences 81

Reply: The Personhood of the Spirit / John Polkinghorne 82

6. Faith in the Holy Spirit / Michael Welker 84

The Spirit

Filling the World, Yet Fleeing and Departing? 84

The 'Pouring' of the Spirit and the Ethos of Creative Difference 85

What Happens at Pentecost? 87

General Difficulties in Understanding the Working of the Spirit 88

Illuminating Early Witnesses of the Spirit's Working 92

The Power of Sin and the Power of the Spirit 93

Renewal and Uplifting by the Spirit 94

Comments: Four Pneumatological Points / John Polkinghorne 96

Reply: 'A Sharply Phrased Protest at the Idea of "An Abstract Omni-Presence"' / Michael Welker 97

Part II 'Faith Seeking Understanding' in Truthseeking Communities and Among Individuals

7. Opening Windows onto Reality / John Polkinghorne 101

Experience 101

Perspectives 102

Eschatological Perspectives 104

8. Springing Cultural Traps / Michael Welker 111

The Turn Toward Theological Topics in the Discourse Between Science and Theology 112

Discovering and Springing Cultural Traps 115

A Critique of the Abstract Opposition of Time and Eternity 119

God's Coordination of Times: The Creativity of the Triune God 122

The Triune God and Eternal Life 124

9. The Search for Truth and Understanding / John Polkinghorne, Michael Welker 132

Faith and Knowledge 132

Critical and Self-Critical Realism 133

From Experience to Understanding 134

Trinitarian Belief 136

The Perspective of the Scientist 137

Integration 138

Theology and the Search for Truth: The Most Basic Form of Theology 139

Theology and the Search for Truth: Blessings and Potential Dangers of Elaborated Forms of Theology 141

Five Forms of Religious Minimalism as Dangerous Bridges Between Elaborated and Basic Theologies 143

Faith in the Living God: Theology in Search for Truth and Understanding Needs Exemplary Orientation Toward its Subject Matter 145.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0800634349

OCLC:

47267159