Transcendental Philosophy and the Study of Religion 4
Transcendental Philosophy and the Study of Religion 4
Sku: 48400A0E060
Archival Number: CD/mp3 484
Author: Lonergan, B.
Language(s): English
Decade: 1960
Description:
CD/mp3 484, part 2 of lecture 2 in the 1968 Boston College Institute. Sponsored by Rev. Msgr. Richard M. Liddy. The unity of theology is the dynamic unity of a developing process, where the development is from undifferentiation through differentiation and specialization to integration. The first differentiation is of theology from religion, but there is also a differentiation within theology itself. Functional specialization, though, shows a unity, first, in the specialties of the first phase, a unity of four partial objects that gradually are assembled into one total object, namely, the Body of Christ in its historical development. The movement here is from the almost endless multiplicity of data through many interpretative unities to more comprehensive narrative unities to the oppositions running through the interpretations and histories and through what is interpreted and reported in the histories. The second phase proceeds from the unity of a grounding horizon through doctrines and systematic clarifications to communication with the endless mentalities of humankind. It is a movement through successive and more fully developed contexts. And finally, there is a unity between the two phases: a strict dependence of the second on the first, and a qualified dependence of the first on the second. The lecture moves on to the first two sections of the next chapter then envisioned, 'Horizons and Categories.' These concern Meaning as Horizon and Method as Horizon. Horizons may be related to one another in a complementary fashion or genetically or dialectically. Horizons are also structured. And the notion of theology in terms of eight functional specializations sets a horizon that can be distinguished from previous horizons in Catholic theology.