Conference Paper Accepted!!!

Such wonderful news: My paper submission for Lonergan on the Edge 2013 has been accepted!! My abstract is below, and I look forward to the conversation!

Geschicte, Systematics, and Dasein: Bringing Together Lonergan and Heidegger

In item #47200D0E060 of the Lonergan Archive, Lonergan sketches out the system of functional specialties that would eventually make up the bulk of Method in Theology. Upon inspection of the “Speaking” specialties, there is a relationship between “Explanations,” which would be renamed as Systematics, and Geschicte, a distinctive form of understanding history that favors reflection on the experience of the events in question as opposed to a simple reporting of dates and facts. Geschicte lends itself to reflecting upon the mysteries of faith, an essential element of the functional specialty of doctrines, and understanding these mysteries as a cohesive whole. This leads to the idea, to paraphrase Robert Doran, that systematic theology must be grounded in a theory of Geschicte. The question is then what kind of theory of Geschicte lends itself to theological reflection. My answer is an appropriation of Heidegger’s phenomenology. First, I shall offer an interpretation of Heidegger’s phenomenology, as presented in Being and Time, that I think serves Lonergan’s project quite well. Second,I shall briefly argue how my interpretation of Heidegger is superior to the standard interpretation of William Blattner, citing the focus of Heidegger’s work as Dasein in the world as opposed to Kantian intuitions of space and time. Then, I shall show how my interpretation of Heidegger’s understanding of Geschicte fits into the context of Lonergan’s functional specialties, particularly systematics and its relationship with doctrines. Finally, I will give an example of how Heideggerian phenomenology can serve systematics, primarily through the evaluation of the coherence of doctrine through reflection on the experience of grace.