A Revitalization of Images
Theology and Human Creativity
Gregory C. Higgins
A Revitalization of Images
Theology and Human Creativity
Copyright © 2019 Gregory C. Higgins. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Cascade Books
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
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paperback isbn: 978-1-4982-2450-5
hardcover isbn: 978-1-4982-2452-9
ebook isbn: 978-1-4982-2451-2
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Names: Higgins, Gregory C., 1960–, author.
Title: A revitalization of images : theology and human creativity / Gregory C. Higgins.
Description: Eugene, OR : Cascade Books, 2019 | Includes bibliographical references and index(es).
Identifiers: isbn 978-1-4982-2450-5 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-4982-2452-9 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-4982-2451-2 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Imagination—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)—Religious aspects—Christianity.
Classification: br115.a8 h54 2019 (print) | br115.a8 h54 (ebook)
Manufactured in the U.S.A. 01/22/19
For Eileen, Emily, and James
Preface
I would like to thank a number of people who have assisted me in various ways with the writing of this text. First, I need to thank the faculty and students of Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey, where I have taught for over thirty years. Second, thanks to my fellow St. Rose of Lima parishioners in Freehold, New Jersey. Third, special thanks to Benjamin and William Pickett, Bexley and Callie King, as well as Ryan, Colin, and Brandon Schneider. Finally, my deepest thanks to Eileen, Emily, and James to whom this work is lovingly dedicated.
Introduction
The title, A Revitalization of Images plays off the title of the 1949 work by the British theologian and philosopher Austin Farrer (1904–68), A Rebirth of Images. Farrer argued in a number of works that the key to understanding both the nature of theological reflection and the dynamics of the Christian spiritual life lies in recognizing the critical role that images play in shaping how we think and act. The “birth of Christianity,” states Farrer, “is a visible rebirth of images.”1 Israel preserved the images of Joseph and his brothers, the kingship of David, and the Suffering Servant, to name but a few. “Christ in his earthly life had made the decisive transformation of the images, and he had given his Spirit to continue the work in the minds of the disciples, to lead them into the knowledge of all the truth.”2 Not only did Christ transform the images handed down in Israel through his life, death, and resurrection, but the New Testament writers witnessed to that transformation in their own imaginative ways. As Farrer writes in The Glass of Vision,
In the apostolic mind . . . the God-given images lived, not statically, but with an inexpressible creative force. The several distinct images grew together into fresh unities, opened out in new detail, attracted to themselves and assimilated further image-material: all this within the life of a generation. This is the way inspiration worked. The stuff of inspiration is living images.3
This process, in turn, provides us with a model for doing theology. “Theology is the analysis and criticism of the revealed images . . . Theology tests and determines the sense of the images . . . ”4 Theology tests the images, and is tested by them. Without this activity, the images can become lifeless. The task, then, of theology is the continual revitalization of biblical imagery in the ongoing life of the Christian community.
In order to accomplish this task of revitalization, those doing theology need to be conversant with past thinkers as well as engaged in the present life of the church. To that end, in each chapter we begin with a biblical image that has figured prominently in the writings of Christians down through the centuries. “Image” is broadly defined to include things ranging from “Jacob’s Ladder” to the creation stories. We examine two important thinkers from the past who have drawn upon the image when discussing the Christian life. Next, we turn our attention to a contemporary thinker who has employed the image in his or her own theological work. The theologian may support or challenge the traditional interpretation of the image. In the final section of each chapter we examine how theologians representing the wide spectrum of current theological positions use the image to propose their own understanding of the Christian life. In each section we will include the theological perspective of an orthodox, liberal, postliberal, and postmodern thinker.
Revitalization and Contemporary Theology
The approach in Revitalization mirrors three noteworthy features of Christian theology. First, a person surveying the field of contemporary theology cannot help but be struck by the wide array of approaches, positions, and concerns. This pluralism exists not only in terms of the theologies presently being developed in the academy, but, I suspect, within the minds of most Christians gathered for worship at their local church. On some issues, we fiercely uphold the orthodox position; on other issues we land squarely in the liberal camp, and on still more we see the different sides of an argument and don’t know where we stand. We treasure the orthodox commitment to faithfulness, we applaud the liberal questioning of the status quo, we recognize with the postliberals that Christianity calls us to live in a way that the world may not understand, and we acknowledge the deeply fragmented nature of the world that is emphasized in postmodernism. The challenge, of course, is to draw upon this diversity in such a way that it becomes an asset rather than a liability to our theological reflection. The selection of works under consideration in the present text reflects in some small way the deeply pluralistic state of both our own thinking and the theological landscape.
Second, in each chapter Revitalization presents numerous examples of the ways in which theologians, both past and present, read Scripture.5 Along the way, a host of questions arise that appear with great frequency in contemporary theological debates. Is meaning a property of the text or a creation of the individual reader or the interpretive community? The pre-modern readings of the biblical text that produced such intriguing and spiritually powerful typological and allegorical interpretations can also frequently strike the modern reader as strained. Is it possible to develop a way of reading the Bible that taps into what Farrer calls “the life-giving power” of Scripture that complements the historical-critical method of interpretation?6 The diversity of positions raises the question of truth. Is it possible to have multiple legitimate readings of the Bible, and if so, is it possible to identify illegitimate readings? The text will, I hope, provide ample opportunity to engage these questions.
Third, a focus on images reminds us that while theology requires systematic thought and critical inquiry, it also involves a creativity of mind and spirit. Again, Farrer provides us with a way of thinking about this dimension of theology. He writes, “Man expresses himself by language,