Research Group Theology in a Postmodern Context - Augustine and Postmodern Thought

Invited speakers: Fergus Kerr, Joseph Komonchak, Robert Dodaro, Emannuel Falque, James K.A. Smith, Anthony Godzieba and Douglas Hedley.

On November 9-11, 2006, the Research Group Theology in a Postmodern Context (KU Leuven) organises an expert symposium on the return of Augustine in current postmodern philosophical-theological debates. The North-African Church Father, or at least thinking patterns or intuitions borrowed from him, often are invoked in discussions on the relation between Christian faith and the contemporary postmodern context. On the one hand, one observes the retrieval of rather premodern approaches, in order to remedy the so-called (post-)modern crisis resulting in nihilism, relativism, etc. For what seems to attract some theologians in Augustinian thinking is the (apparent) marriage between Greek (neo-Platonic) philosophy and Christian faith. Such a combination of pre-modern metaphysics and Christian faith would serve as a necessary presupposition for every legitimate theological epistemology. Other theologians and philosophers are increasingly trying to reread Augustine from a postmodern stance, stressing the role of particularity, narrativity, historicity, and the decentering of subjectivity, which they see present in Augustine's approach, or from which they deconstruct Augustine's thinking.

Central questions to be discussed during the symposium: Are the analyses with respect to the contemporary context offered by authors re-introducing Augustine correct? On what basis do they propose Augustine as a remedy, and to what diagnosed problems? Is their presentation of other theological and philosophical responses to the actual situation correct and which ‘Augustine’ do they claim to represent? More fundamentally: what would a genuine Augustinian epistemology look like, and what can we gain from it? In what way can it be normative for a theological epistemology in our days? In answering these questions, the focus explicitly will be on contemporary philosophical and theological evaluations of both modernity and postmodernity, and theological responses to them. Is it desirable to overcome modernity by embracing a postmodern Augustinian stance? In line with e.g. J. Komonchak's analysis, is Roman-Catholic theology after Vatican II to be understood from the tension between Augustinian and Thomist-like theologians? Would a Thomist-like reflection offer us a more adequate account of the relation between faith and reason? Or does such a theological position still too easily overlook the particularity of the theological discourse?

If you are familiar with these topics and share a special interest in the theme of the conference, you are kindly invited to attend the conference. There is no more room for additional lectures, but there will be ample time for discussion after each session, in which all attendees are free to take part. For more information please contact prof. dr. Lieven Boeve or Tom Jacobs. While an expert symposium the total of extra attendees, however, will be limited to 10.

The conference itself is part of a broader research project funded by the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research and the Research Council of the KU Leuven: “Postmodern Neo-Augustinianism: old wine in new wineskins? Historical and systematic theological investigation into the introduction of neo-Augustinian frameworks in contemporary theological epistemologies."