Inconclusive theologies

About this book

Kierkegaard argued that Christianity is a lived religion, not a set of doctrines to be cognitively affirmed. This means theologys proper focus is reflection on revelation within the God-human relationship, and human existencealways in process and shaped by different communities, relationships, and contextsis significant to theological construction. As Christian knowledge is a relationship that cannot be communicated directly, theology is never concluded and cannot adequately function within totalizing systems. The writings of seventeenth-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz, provide an exemplary direction for contemporary theologies mindful of this need for indirect communication. Her writings show a respect of others cognitive freedom and their differing perspectives. Powell builds a theological case for the inclusion of literary genres in the theological discipline, a move that resists western philosophys dominance of form and opens the theological canon.