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In Conventional and Ultimate Truth, Joseph Stephen O'Leary completes his trilogy on contemporary fundamental theology, which began with the volumes Questioning Back (1985) and Religious Pluralism and Christian Truth (1996). Common to all three works are dialogues with European philosophers Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, G. W. F. Hegel, and the Madhyamaka school of Buddhism. In the current volume, O'Leary deals with the nature of theological rationality today, recommending the practice of reflective judgment, as opposed to systematic determinative judgment.
Inspired by the Buddhist notion of conventional truth, O'Leary claims that if we fully accept the fragility and conventionality of religious language, we can find a secure basis for a critical, reflective theology. This proposal is fleshed out in a dialogue with classical negative theology and with the implications of twentieth-century art and literature for religious epistemology. Embracing conventionality does not mean that the dimension of ultimacy is lost. The two are intimately conjoined in the Buddhist two-truths doctrine. Revisiting traditional sites of theological ultimacy, such as the authority of scripture and Christian dogma and the appeal to religious experience, O'Leary argues that we do justice to them only when we fully accept the conventionality of their historical articulation. By relating these traditions of thought to one another, O'Leary produces a new model for contemporary fundamental theology, one that will positively refocus and revitalize the field.
"Works in comparative theology have begun to capture attention in theological circles, including the works of Francis Clooney, James Fredericks, John Keenan, and an increasing number of younger scholars, all writing with fresh insights in Christian theology as enriched by their intellectual sojourns into a religious tradition other than their own. O'Leary's work can be taken in good company with these works, and is a significant contribution in this regard. It is a 'must-read' for those already engaged in comparative theology, and more so for all those in systematic theology who seek to bring their theological insights into conversation with wider circles of thought." —Ruben L. F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
“This third volume of O’Leary’s trilogy on fundamental theology is a work in comparative theology, engaging key dialogue partners in articulating a distinctive phenomenology of religion. He believes that talk of the ultimacy of emptiness does not produce negative theology but sends one back to the fabric of conventional discourse to enable breakthroughs of ultimacy.” —Choice
"Conventional and Ultimate Truth by the well-known professor Joseph O'Leary is a major contribution to contemporary Christian fundamental theology. It is original, exceptionally erudite, and often brilliant. This is a genuine contribution to post-Heidegger phenomenology articulating a distinct, unique phenomenology of religion in its plural and complex phenomenality. The book is a splendid achievement." —David Tracy, Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies, University of Chicago Divinity School
“Joseph Stephen O’Leary develops an approach to theological rationality grounded in Buddhism’s two-truth doctrine and developed in dialogue with classical negative theology and other perspectives.” —The Chronicle Review
Joseph Stephen O'Leary currently holds the Roche Chair, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nanzan University.
Preface
List of Abbreviations
1. Theological Judgment as Open-Ended Reflection
- Reflective Rationality
- Pathologies of Theological Judgment
- Open Faith
- Relativism
- Judgment and Method
2. The Twofold Truth
- Negative Dialectic
- Conventionalism
- Freedom from Views
3. The Religious Dynamic of Modernist Literature
- The Sacrificial Dynamic of Modernist Art
- Transformation in Proust and Joyce
- Beckett: The Self-Deconstruction of Modernism
4. Metaphysics and Its Overcoming
- Theology and Philosophy
- The Ontotheology Debate
- Marion on Augustine
- Causa Sui
- The Objectification of God
- Rahner and Metaphysics
5. Scripture and Revelation
- Scripture as a Conventional Vehicle of Ultimacy
- Lack at the Origin
6. Religious Experience
- Ultimacy and Immediacy
- Mysticism on Trial
- Consulting the Classics
- Augustine’s Plotinian Ecstasies
7. Negative Theology
- Negative Theology as Platonic
- A Model: Gregory of Nyssa
- Overcoming Classical Negative Theology
- Rewriting Dionysius
- Negative Theology and Gospel Kerygma
- Phenomenological Retrievals
- of Negative Theology
- Negative Theology and Deconstruction
- Vedantic Apophasis
- Buddhist Apophasis
- Negative Theology in a Pluralist Key
8. Interreligious Dialogue
- In the Key of Pluralism and Conventionality
- Identity Reshaped in Dialogue
- The Parity of Religions
- Beyond Dominus Iesus
9. Dogma
- The Method of the Step Back
- A Trinitarian Trajectory
- A Christological Trajectory
- The Impact of Emptiness
References
Index