This thesis offers an analytical interpretation and critique of Helmut Thielicke's dogmatics. It argues that for Thielicke theological authority is grounded in the Word and Spirit, by which the judging and justifying God addresses men and women, thereby setting them into the truth of his own being, effecting new existence. In other words, the possibility and profitability of dogmatics relates to existence effected by divine revelation (dialectical encounter). This theme, referred to in the thesis as “salvific transformation,” organizes and molds Thielicke's dogmatics. As such, Thielicke's work pulls towards the divine economy (the relational purposes of God), instead of the communication of propositions. The resulting theology orients men and women towards hope in God, thereby providing an eschatological overture and repeated motif. It also presents the reader with a thoroughgoing evangelical theology since it seeks to make the perlocutionary effect of the euangelion its central theme, and to show what the gospel means for human existence. In particular salvific transformation governs Thielicke's approach to the knowledge of God. The thesis is presented in two parts. The first introduces the theme of the soteriological effect of revelation; the second analyzes how this shapes Thielicke's theology through an exposition of four distinct doctrines: Trinity, Christology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Our discussion of these doctrines demonstrates the interaction between five key interpretive features in Thielicke's thought: a non-Cartesian approach, soteriological conditioning, the Word as a defining framework, the theology of the Holy Spirit, and the importance of history. These testify to and shape the hermeneutical theme of salvific transformation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:606429 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Bush, Daniel Jay |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=210728 |
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