The Primacy of Theological Discourse

James K. A. Smith, in Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism, describes the posture of a common theological strategy plaguing the church, the “correlationalist model.”  This approach begins with “a certain confidence in the findings of a secular discipline–whether philosophy, psychology, history, or sociology–[and then] adapts this neutral or scientific framework as a foundation and then correlates Christian theological claims with the facts disclosed by secular science.”  In an apologetic effort to make Christianity intelligible and universal to an audience, churches translate the gospel according to the rationale of scientific or “objective” truth rather than to the particularity of Christian revelation.  The correlative method also directs church practice as well.   Churches have assimilated business-growth paradigms with their definitions of success, as well as marketing strategies and their penchant for trends.

John Milbank offers a diagnosis for modern theology:

Radical orthodoxy, radical scarf.

“Once theology surrenders its claim to be a metadiscourse, it cannot any longer articulate the word of the creator God, but is bound to turn into some oracular voice of some finite idol, such as historical scholarship, humanist psychology, or transcendental philosophy.  If theology no longer seeks to position, quality or criticize other discourses, then it is inevitable that these discourses will position theology.”

- Theology and Social Theory:  Beyond Secular Reason

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