Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

For better or for worse, and despite the influences of globalism and multiculturalism, thechurch remains the best hope Western postmodern culture has for finding genuinespiritual direction. But what kind of church does this culture need? Certainly not thechurch of the angry shoemaker! And this is precisely what Karl Rahner perceived.The goal of this thesis has been to introduce Rahner as the alternative to the angryshoemaker. No one really knows what the future form and shape of faith and spiritualitywill be within Western culture. One of the latest ‘emergent’ texts from the United Statesoffers what sounds like a robust argument for something like a new reformation. In Thegreat emergence 97 Phyllis Tickle suggests that Western Christianity is currentlyexperiencing the latest in a series of five-hundred-year upheavals, or ‘rummage sales’ 98 .Over the next fifty years or so, according to Tickle, there will be an inevitable shift awayfrom an intellectually unsustainable biblical literalism to a bible-listening posture,celebrating theological beauty. The ultimate authority for Protestant Christianity—havingshifted in Luther’s time from Pope to sola scriptura, scriptura sola—will shift to a globalnetwork of theological conversations in which Christians of all traditions will participatein a dialogical mutuality of sacred listening and speaking 99 . The outcome of this shift willtransform the nature of the church and its capacity to engage with culture.If…the Great Emergence really does what most of its observers think it will, itwill rewrite Christian theology…into something far more Jewish, moreparadoxical, more narrative, and more mystical than anything the Church has seen100for the last seventeen or eighteen hundred years .As attractive as Tickle’s vision sounds, no one can know for sure if this is what willactually happen. The place of the church as spiritual guide was radically challenged bythe enlightenment; in the late-modern or postmodern era, its reputation has declined evenmore. The church has struggled to adapt to the shift and has often retreated into adefensive ‘silo’ posture. This posture has perpetually diminished the church’s capacity toengage Western culture and even to effectively mentor children of Christian families into97 The great emergence – how Christianity is changing and why, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008).98 She lists the previous upheavals as Gregory the great and the ‘monasticizing’ of the Church (sixthcentury), the great schism (eleventh century), and the reformation (sixteenth century), ibid, 19-31.99 Ibid, 147-162.100 Ibid, 162.222