A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology
Kevin J. Vanhoozer
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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and used by permission.
Scripture quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, and 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.
Book design by Sharon Adams
Cover design by Mark Abrams
First edition
Published by Westminster John Knox Press
Louisville, Kentucky
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
ISBN-13: 978-0-664-22327-4
ISBN-10: 0-664-22327-3
For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals.
The elder Dumas enunciated a great principle when he said that to make a drama, a man needed one passion, and four walls.
—Willa Cather, “The Novel Démeublé”
Theologia non est habitus demonstrativus, sed exhibitivus.
The play’s the thing.
—William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” (act 2, scene 2)
Introduction: The Way of Truth; the Stuff of Life
The Setting: Theology and the Cultural-Linguistic Turn
The Thesis: The Canonical-Linguistic Approach
The Vision: A Catholic-Evangelical Orthodoxy
1 The Gospel as Theo-drama: The Divine Voice and Actor
Entrances, Exoduses, and the Economy of the Gospel
Theo-drama: Divine Speech and Action
2 Theology in the Theo-drama: The Human Voice and Actor
Theo-dramatic Theology: Human Speech and Action
The Mission of Theology and the Trinitarian Missions
3 The Nature of Doctrine: A Dramatic Proposal
To Know God Truly: What London and Broadway Have to Say to Jerusalem
The Natures of Doctrine: Of Propositions, Poems, and Practices
Doctrine as Theo-dramatic Direction
4 Word and Church: The Canon as Covenant Document
The “Gaza Road” Experience: “According to the Scriptures”
Why Turn to Canon? Problems and Possibilities
Canon as Covenant: How Scripture Constitutes the Church
Canon as Criterion: Why Scripture Rules
5 Scripture and Tradition: Two (or More) Kinds of Performance Interpretation
Scripture Becomes Tradition: Ecclesiology as First Theology?
Performance II: The Interpretative Community Authors and Directs...
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About The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian TheologyObserving a strange disappearance of doctrine within the church, Kevin Vanhoozer argues that there is no more urgent task for Christians today than to engage in living truthfully with others before God. He details how doctrine serves the church—the theater of the gospel—by directing individuals and congregations to participate in the drama of what God is doing to renew all things in Jesus Christ. Taking his cue from George Lindbeck and others who locate the criteria of Christian identity in Spirit-led church practices, Vanhoozer relocates the norm for Christian doctrine in the canonical practices, which, he argues, both provoke and preserve the integrity of the church’s witness as prophetic and apostolic. |
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