Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Justification and systems of thought

Because answers to individual theological questions/issues belong to and obtain their rationality within larger systems of thought (theological, philosophical, and hermeneutical), to understand them and their justification we have to understand the systems to which they belong. Only then can we engage with the individual answers. However, if we do not agree with the system that gives them their rationality/justification, then the dispute lies with the system and discussion will get nowhere if it is restricted to the individual answer. It is essential to establish on what level the fundamental disagreement lies in order for any progress to be made.

Our first task then is to understand, then comes critique and retrieval.

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