Transcendental Philosophy and the Study of Religion 6
Transcendental Philosophy and the Study of Religion 6
Sku: 48600A0E060
Archival Number: CD/mp3 486
Author: Lonergan, B.
Language(s): English
Decade: 1960
Description:
CD/mp3 486, third lecture in the 1968 Boston College Institute. Sponsored by Bro. Martin J. Murphy, S.J. Discussion resumes of the contrast between the methodical approach and past Catholic theology. The key is the notion of historical development, and the problem is one of integrating that notion into theology. The lecture turns next to categories. Categories for a contemporary theology open to history must be in some sense transcultural. The methodologist can provide a schema to show how this is possible on the basis of transcendental method. Derivation of the categories will be both general and special. General categories are derived in five ways: complicate the basic structure of intentional consciousness, turn to concrete instances of it, fill it out, differentiate it, and set it in motion. Functional specialization is itself an example of complicating the structure. Turning to concrete instances of it generalizes it from the individual to the group in history. Filling it out is exemplified in the material on the human good, values, and beliefs. Differentiating it is in terms of the patterns of experience and realms of meaning and the distinction of authenticity and unauthenticity. It is set in motion through the various heuristic structures. Derivation of the special categories starts from the base of God's gift of love as the fulfilment of our conscious intentionality. Here too, we complicate, find concrete instances, fill out, differentiate, and set in motion, but two of the five sets that Lonergan mentions on this basis (the first and third) are different from and less determinate than in Method in Theology. A section on the use of the categories follows. The chapter ends with discussions, first, of how transcendental method affects the relation of theology and science and, second, of the issue of pluralism.