Theology and Narrative: Selected Essays

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, Sep 23, 1993 - Religion - 288 pages
Hans W. Frei (1922-1988) was one of the most influential American theologians of his generation. Early in his career he drew attention to the importance of biblical narratives; he helped make Karl Barth once again a creative voice in contemporary theology; and he served as a model of what his colleague, George Lindbeck, has called "postliberal theology." This volume collects ten of Frei's lectures and essays, many of them never before published. Addressing audiences of theologians, biblical scholars, and literary critics, Frei explores the implications of his work for hermeneutics and Christology, and discusses Barth, Schleiermacher, and his own teacher, H. Richard Niebuhr. William Placher has provided an introduction to Frei's life and work, and the volume ends with an essay by George Hunsinger on Frei's significance for theology today. This collection provides an unrivaled introduction to Frei's work.
 

Contents

Introduction
3
1 Remarks in Connection with a Theological Proposal
26
2 Theological Reflections on the Accounts of Jesus Death and Resurrection
45
Some Hermeneutical Considerations
94
Does It Stretch or Will It Break?
117
Resolution Armistice or Coexistence?
153
Theologian
167
Divergence and Convergence
177
8 Of the Resurrection of Christ
200
An Evangelical Appraisal
207
10 H Richard Niebuhr on History Church and Nation
213
Hans Frei as Theologian
235
Index
271
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Page 6 - The oft-repeated reproach that Homer is a liar takes nothing from his effectiveness, he does not need to base his story on historical reality, his reality is powerful enough in itself; it ensnares us, • weaving its web around us, and that suffices him. And this "real...
Page 6 - The Bible's claim to truth is not only far more urgent than Homer's, it is tyrannical — it excludes all other claims. The world of the Scripture stories is not satisfied with claiming to be a historically true reality — it insists that it is the only real world, is destined for autocracy.
Page 10 - But mental happenings occur in insulated fields, known as 'minds', and there is, apart maybe from telepathy, no direct causal connection between what happens in one mind and what happens in another. Only through the medium of the public physical world can the mind of one person make a difference to the mind of another. The mind is its own place and in his inner life each of us lives the life of a ghostly Robinson Crusoe.

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