TOWARDS A POETICS OF THEOLOGICAL CREATIVITY: ROWAN WILLIAMS READS AUGUSTINE'S DE DOCTRINA AFTER DERRIDA

Author: McCURRY, JEFFREY¹

Source: Modern Theology, Volume 23, Number 3, July 2007 , pp. 415-433(19)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

Rejecting both a conservative theological method seeking retrieval and reiteration of theological claims from the Christian tradition and a liberal theological method of seeking the translation of theological claims into a modern idiom, Rowan Williams pursues a theological poetics of “traditioned creativity.” By viewing the texts of the Christian tradition less as deposits of truth to be plumbed and more as scripts to be performed in ways inflected by contemporary concerns, Williams can write theology that is both profoundly “traditioned” and innovative. This article shows how Williams pursues this distinctive program of theological poesis by attending to his reading of Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana in light of Derrida's reflections on the place of the economy of difference and deferral in all reading and interpretation.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0025.2007.00390.x

Affiliations: 1: Theology Department, College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, MN 55105, USA

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