The Propositional vs. Hermeneutic Models of Cross-Cultural Understanding

Abstract

What the authors attempts to address in this paper is a Kantian question: not whether, but how is cross-cultural understanding possible? And specifically, what is a more effective approach for cross-cultural understanding? The answer lies in an analysis of two different models of cross-cultural understanding, that is, propositional and hermeneutic understanding. To begin with, the authors presents a linguistic interpretation of culture, i.e., a culture as a linguistically formulated and transmitted symbolic system with its conceptual core as a scheme of basic cultural presuppositions. Such a symbolic system is referred to as a cultural language. After exploring the essential role of cultural presuppositions in cross-cultural understanding, the authors discusses the traditional model of cross-cultural understanding, namely, the propositional model. Through critically examining the two popular versions of the propositional model, i.e., the projective approach and the adoptive approach to cross-cultural understanding, it is found that cross-cultural propositional understanding is doomed to failure. To move us beyond the absolutism-relativism trap embedded within propositional understanding, the authors first introduces and discusses Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutic understanding, and then applies Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutic model of understanding to cross-cultural understanding. It is finally concluded that cross-cultural understanding is essentially hermeneutic – including the case of cultural learning, not propositional. Therefore, cross-cultural understanding is hermeneutically possible.     

The Ecclesial Ethics of John Howard Yoder’s Abuse

In the last decade – now that his sexual abuse is no longer deniable – Christian ethicists have had to reconsider John Howard Yoder’s theological contributions in the late twentieth century. This essay considers how the witness of the women who survived his abuse exposes the sexism latent in his development of a framework for moral discernment and community discipline. Yoder designed an ecclesiology that was congruent with his pursuit of unaccountable power over the women he used as subjects for working out his exploitative sexuality. His theological contributions, I argue, cannot be separated from his behavior.     

Ecclesial communion: The letters of St Basil the great revisited

Abstract

The German word Kirchengemeinschaft, translated as ‘ecclesial communion’ or ‘communion of churches’, is a term frequently used in contemporary ecumenical discourse. Are ‘communion of churches’ or ‘ecclesial communion’ leading concepts for future ecumenism? Starting from the fact that modern ecumenism and ecclesiology often refer to communio/κo?vωvíα in the Early Church as their model or ideal, this article investigates more closely how κo?vωvíα worked in that period. Basil the Great's letters serve as an example to show not so much the theoretical but the practical impact of κo?vωvíα on everyday church life. They also demonstrate how Basil applied κo?vωvíα on different levels and indicate what is required to facilitate it. Finally, they give some indication of what this could mean for ecumenism today.     

The Operationalistic and Hermeneutic Status of Psychoanalysis

Hermeneutic and anti-hermeneutic sides in the debate about psychoanalysis are entangled in an epistemological and methodological antinomy, here exemplified by Grünbaum's and Spence's paradigmatic views. Both contain a partial element of truth, which they assert dialectically one against the other (§§ 1 and 2). This antinomy disappears only by reconciling an operationalist approach with man's ability to suspend the effectiveness of the‘laws’ applied to him (§ 3). The hermeneutic way in which the technical-operational criterion of truth works in psychoanalysis demands that clinical and extra-clinical testing methods work synergically, through a fruitful self-correcting strategy, grounded on the very psychoanalytic object: the unconscious (§ 4). This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Contribution of Common Principles of Canon Law to Ecclesial Communion in Anglicanism

An important recent development in worldwide Anglicanism is the emergence over recent years of a project to articulate the principles of canon law common to the churches of the Anglican Communion. This project seeks to express the juridical character of Anglicanism from a global perspective, not only to underscore the many fundamental values that Anglicans share in terms of their polity, ministry, doctrine, liturgy, rites and property, going to the very roots of Anglican identity but, also, as a concrete resource for other churches in ecumenical dialogue with Anglicans. This article traces the development of the so-called ius commune project, describes the methodological challenges which it faces and, the process of producing a draft. It also seeks to compare the project with the juridical experiences of other international ecclesial communities and, briefly, to place the project in the context of the debate about the adoption of an Anglican Covenant, an initiative proposed by the Lambeth Commission in 2004.     

The Stranger as Sacrament: Karl Barth and the Ethics of Ecclesial Practice>

Recent theology has devoted attention to ecclesial practices as a matrix for ethical reflection. Barth stands in ambivalent relation to these developments. On the one hand, Barth urges consideration of the relation of church practice to the gospel of divine action; on the other, Barth's christocentric account of ethics might be corrected by an ethics of ecclesial practice. The ambivalence is explored in an interpretation of Barth's account of the ministry of the Christian community in Church Dogmatics IV/3 and of his treatment of love of one's neighbour in I/2.     

Postmodern Illusions and the Challenges of African Theology: The Ecclesial Tactics of Resistance

Contemporary African theological reflection has not sufficiently paid attention to the reality of postmodernism in general, its cultural expressions in particular. In this essay, I depict some of the illusions of a postmodern culture and how their power to shape the economic, cultural and imaginative visions of Africans remains one of the key theological challenges. Accordingly, the crucial test for African theology today will be whether it can generate enough critical skills and inspire new forms of community, which are capable of challenging, as well as offering alternatives to, the dangerous and playful nihilism of a postmodern culture.