Colin Gunton in his The One, the Three and the Many (Bampton Lectures) sought to offer a theological analysis of modernity while at the same time calling Christian theology back to the heart of its faith, the Triune God. In The Eschatological Eschatology: Time and the Hospitality of God, Douglas Knight has similar goals, though here he follows the recent trend of eschatologicizing doctrine by mapping an eschatological ontology onto Gunton’s Zizioulasian trinitarian ontology. This book does a lot. Knight reconceives the task of theology, the role of Scripture, christology, the Trinity, pneumatology, Israelology, ecclesiology, hermeneutics, and so many other topics. It also redefines so much basic terminology such as time, being, person, place. But I think it is most expedient to view this book as a theology from the view of sanctification, for the goal is to better understand how God transforms us into participants in his life.
Essentially Knight believes that we need an ‘eschatological’ rather than ‘protological’ ontology because humanity is in the process of becoming human. This is Irenaeus’ vision of Christian transformation. He coins a ‘doxological ontology’, which employs the relational personhood theory, now so common to the literature (see two popular theologies that make this theory applicable Like Father, Like Son: The Trinity Imaged in Our Humanity; and Trinity In Human Community ), Knight believes that our personhood is constituted by our relationships. Likewise, our knowledge is mediated by the communities in which we participate. Thus, God transforms us by altering the formative relational structures according to his eschatological end for creation. In other words, God creates a new community – Israel/Church – and institutes new practices – temple, sacrifice, sacrament, liturgy, worship, etc. – so that humanity can become holy under his provision and grace. God teaches us to be human, and as we worship we become what we are doing.
This conceptuality allows Knight to engage in some anthropologically attuned biblical exegesis of Israel’s sacrificial cult and temple. Knight is very sensitive to the political challenge marked by Israel’s actions. As Israel becomes holy, the world is judged and demythologized. Israel’s sacrificial cult, for instance, teaches us not to participate in human sacrifice.
On the basis of this, Knight offers a suprisingly thorough criticism of modernity. For starters, Knight dislikes modernity’s static conception of ‘being’ (as a function of natura) and its ‘immediate’ epistemology. He also disdains the way it cannot account for embodiedness.
This is a great book. It makes use of much recent theology – Zizioulas, Gunton, Jenson, for example – but it does so in such a way so as to recover classical Christianity. Knight has an impressive ability to connect and assemble doctrinal themes. I hope to see him develop this portrait more. I’d be particularly interested in how his admittedly more Eastern view can cohere with Reformed theology, especially since he is a self-described ‘catholic-evangelical’…
James Merrik reviews The Eschatological Eschatology: Time and the Hospitality of God.
A ‘mini-dogmatics’? James really is an excellent judge of books. I am very grateful to him.
