Alienation and Trust: On Hermeneutics and Theology Vervreemding en vertrouwen: Over hermeneutiek en theologie

Abstract

The authors search for a renewed hermeneutical approach in systematic theology. The reason for this search is given by the urgency of hermeneutic questions in three fields: a) the postsecular social and academic context, b) the theological reflections on the great critiques of religion, and c) the immanent themes of Christian theology. This situation asks for a reflection on the interpretative aspects of alienation and trust. The characteristics of this hermeneutical approach in theology are set out in dialogue with the weak thinking of Caputo and Vattimo, analytical theology, and the radical theology of Dalferth. The outcome of this reconsideration of hermeneutics in a postmodern context is an attitude of daring to trust in the possibility of religious meaningfulness, while modestly distrusting an easy interpretation of this meaning, wherein the complicated situation of theology after the ‘death of God’ is ignored.