At the end of her discussion of the uses and abuses of Gregory of Nyssa in TF Torrance and Robert Jenson ( Gregory of Nyssa, Ancient and (Post)modern 
Torrance is “conservative” and aims “to trace the lineage of trinitarian doctrine back along a pure family line. there have been illegitimate developments, but historical research will reveal the ‘true’ origins of Nicene doctrine, which need to be recovered.” Given this aim, it is “vital for Torrance’s account that the theologians he cites through what he claims they thought.”
The relation of historical sources and constructive theology is looser in Jenson’s “speculative” work: “Although he sees the Council of Nicaea as being decisive, it is – to follow his antagonistic vocabulary – only one early battle in a war which is still being fought; the footsoldiers of earlier days are examples for present-day theologians, but their fighting should not detract from the need to continue the struggle today.” Because Jenson sees his work as “reform and further development,” he is at liberty “to use Gregory’s ideas not so much as the doctrine of an authority-figure but as a springboard for his own theological imagination.”
It seems to me that the contrast of these two specific theologians has a much wider application, and the various contested issues of our time are in part due to these basic differences of orientation.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
