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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
The problems facing theology in the setting of secular. society have been widely discussed to the point, almost, of commercial exploitation, particularly by the now eclipsed radical theology of the late 1960s. The rather hollow sounding panegyrics which celebrated God's demise can hardly be said to have carried the task of theology very far forward. Indeed, they have rendered small service to Christian thought, and even less to the church of Jesus Christ, catholic and apostolic.
page 386 note 1 van Leeuwen, Arend Theodoor, Christianity in World History (tr. Hoskins, Scribner's New York, 1964), p. 420.Google Scholar
page 388 note 1 The Yasakuni Shrine for the war dead was founded in 1869 and was one of the central State Shrines until 1945, when State Shinto was formally abolished. Those advocating support for the government Bill to re-establish State support argue that worship of those who died for the State will help to build consciousness of the State among the people. Although in terms of legislation, the Yasakuni Shrine would cease to be a ‘religious’ establishment, this interpretation of ‘secularising’ in fact means ‘resacralising’, which serves to illustrate just how complex the problem of definition really is. The thesis which Cox derived from Cornelius van Peursen, and which in turn derives from August Comte about the eras of history cannot be substantiated in the face of facts such as these.
page 389 note 1 Jaspers delivered a lecture to a gathering of Swiss theologians in 1963. The text was originally published in Schweizerische theologische Rundschau (1963) and later in the German monthly Merkur. Bultmann's reply in Merkur was answered by an open letter from Jaspers. Bultmann never answered Jaspers's challenge.
The significance of this occasion, when probably the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century, who in his other writings exhibits great concern for the practical issues of history, comes inviting a dialogue with theology, is not to be over-estimated. Heidegger, of whom Bultmann makes use, never extended the same courtesy or showed the same interest. Barth admittedly discussed Jaspers's position, but it is from Bultmann that one would have wished a further reply.
page 392 note 1 vide Stephen Toulmin's work, esp. The Philosophy of Science (Hutchinson, 1953)Google Scholar and his paper ‘Contemporary Scientific Mythology’ in Metaphysical Beliefs (ed. Macintyre, S.C.M., 1957).Google Scholar
page 393 note 1 Thielicke's article is contained in English in Kerygma and Myth (S.P.C.K., 1964), p. 138ff.Google Scholar
Ian Henderson's criticisms of Bultmann in his Myth in the New Testament (S.C.M., 1952)Google Scholar were on the right lines. However, his evaluation of myth naturally stops short of the broader picture which is being suggested here, and which has been influenced by more recent concerns with mythology by linguists and others.
page 394 note 1 vide Fletcher, Joseph, Situation Ethics (S.C.M., 1966)Google Scholar. Blake, Eugene Carson, ‘Should the Code of Ethics in Public Life be absolute or relative?’ American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 363, January 1966, pp. 4ff.Google Scholar
page 395 note 1 By way of an obiter dictum, it is indeed significant that Fletcher first expounded the themes of Situation Ethics in Japan, where his arguments found little recognition. The rather contextual quality of post-war Japanese ethics probably accounted for this. Many Japanese respect Christianity because of its insistence upon the primacy of rights and freedom in society, upon the worth and dignity of the individual, in short because it represents a realm of absolute values in contrast to a society which is tinged with every form of relativism.
Those who argue that human society has rejected absolute moral values misread history. Witness, in the same secular society, a search for values, illustrated by the phenomenal growth since 1946 of the militant Buddhist movement Sōkka Gakkai (lit. ‘value creation society’) to a membership of some 18 millions. Its political wing, until their recent separation, was called Komeito (lit. ‘clean government party’). They represent rather obvious counter tendencies to permissivism.
page 398 note 1 Pannenberg, Wolfhart, Basic Questions in Theology (S.C.M., 1970), pp. 134ff.Google Scholar
page 398 note 2 Bellah, Robert N., Beyond Belief (Harper & Row, 1970)Google Scholar. Professor Bellah is Ford Professor of Sociology and Comparative Studies at Berkeley, and Chairman of the Centre for Japanese and Korean Studies.
page 400 note 1 Not only must the theologian be broadly based and versatile in his understanding, but the ‘parish minister’, whatever form he adopts, must share this breadth and versatility. Therefore, one can only regret the Church of Scotland's recognition of a first B.D. degree as acceptable for her ministry. The traditional Scottish Arts/Divinity structure was based on sounder principles than those used to criticise it, and accords with the contemporary trends described.