Please note: creative writing works are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and fill out the appropriate web form. / Doctrine in Christian theology is often regarded as rigid, absolute, and irrelevant to the lived stories of people in contemporary society. In this project, I engage the traditioning model of Christian religious education to re-envision doctrine as narrative in the making, by which I mean the ongoing, changing process of constructing narratives as people encounter God, other people, and the rest of creation. Doctrines and other traditions are not inflexible, unchangeable sets of propositional beliefs, but reflective narratives of human experiences of God and God’s creation over time, as passed on, received, critiqued, and reshaped by the Christian community. Mary Elizabeth Moore’s traditioning model of Christian religious education provides spacious room to construe Christian doctrine as an ongoing narrative of divine-human-nature relationships.
Building on the traditioning model, the first chapter introduces the whole project with the main arguments, context, and significance of the research, methodology, and primary concepts. The following chapter begins with exploring the dynamics of narrative teaching, especially as it pertains to narrative in the making and the significance of encounter as a practice in that process. The chapter engages three features of narrative in the making, which are imagination, identity, and practice, culminating in my description of the four practices of narrative teaching: sharing, reflecting on, critiquing and revising, and re-narrating stories. Chapter Three conceptualizes doctrine in the traditioning process as narrative in the making, for doctrine carries its past heritage while changing in the face of changing realities. The chapter analyzes doctrinal challenges: critiquing postliberal traditions; building on Willie Jennings’s critique of José de Acosta’s rigid approach to doctrine in service of colonialism; developing a theology of doctrine as narrative in the making; and exploring the possibilities of Kazoh Kitamori’s contextualized theology in relation to the pain of God. Chapter Four exemplifies the traditioning of a particular doctrine—the doctrine of justification by grace through faith—by drawing upon Paul and the early Galatian Christian community, Martin Luther, and Elsa Tamez. Chapter Five engages the process of the emerging postcolonial doctrine of justification by focusing on teaching and learning in community with God and others, as embodied in the four practices of narrative teaching. The last chapter outlines possibilities for future research. / 2999-01-01
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/48270 |
| Date | 28 February 2024 |
| Creators | Kim, Sang Il |
| Contributors | Moore, Mary Elizabeth, Jacobsen, David S |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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