Response To “Narrative Theology: An Evangelical Appraisal” -- By: Hans Frei

Journal: Trinity Journal
Volume: TRINJ 08:1 (Spring 1987)
Article: Response To “Narrative Theology: An Evangelical Appraisal”
Author: Hans Frei


Response To “Narrative Theology:
An Evangelical Appraisal”

Hans Frei

Chairman, Department Of Religious Studies
Yale University

I have no coherent paper to offer; only a series of marginal comments on the things that Dr. Henry has said. I want first of all to say that as I reflect on matters that concern us all, many things are needed in the Christian church. Sound theology is not the first of them, by any means, but it sure would help a little now and then. We all try, from time to time, to contribute towards that end. My own vision of what might be propitious for our day, split as we are, not so much into denominations as into schools of thought, is that we need a kind of generous orthodoxy which would have in it an element of liberalism — a voice like the Christian Century- and an element of evangelicalism— the voice of Christianity Today. I don’t know if there is a voice between those two, as a matter of fact. If there is, I would like to pursue it. But I have conceded to Dr. Henry that I’m not sure that there is a voice between liberalism and evangelicalism. I am not well practiced in discussion with evangelical orthodoxy, but this is a great opportunity for me because I think no one has done as much in our generation in America towards making that conversation possible as one between friends in the faith rather than enemies as Dr. Henry, and therefore it is a great privilege for me to make a very quick response.

Not all of Scripture is narrative, obviously. There are narrative accounts which the traditions have focused around the covenant that God made with his people, but that by itself does not make for a narrative theology. There is a liberal sense of using the term, narrative theology, which generally says that to be human is above all to have a story. I am not sure that that’s above all what it is to be human. There are a great many other things involved in being human. But even if it were, the Bible has a very particular story to tell. That doesn’t mean all elements in the Bible are narrative. It only means, so far as I can see, that something like John 1:14 — “And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” — is something that we don’t understand except as a sequence enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Christian tradition by and large took verses like that to be the center of its story and took them to refer to the real world. That’s a big remark, “refer to the real world.” Let’s put it this way. When I wrote The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative, I had liberals much more than conservatives in mind. And what I had in mind was the fact that if something didn’t seem to suit the world view of the day...

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