Current students

Rt. Rev. Donald Phillips

(email at d.d.phillips@durham.ac.uk)

Abstract

I am interested in taking a contextual approach to developing a Christology that is both derived from and speaks to a 21^st century, postmodern culture.  I am exploring a theological approach to cultural analysis based on the notion that theology and culture are in a reflexive relationship.  The notion of "local" is derived from the work of Robert Schreiter.  The initial "modern" work of H. Richard Niebuhr is both used to provide categories for describing 20^th century approaches to relationship between theology and culture, and is submitted to more recent postmodern critique.  The hermeneutical work of Hans Frei, including reclaiming some attention to figural analysis, the sensus literalis of gospel narrative and primacy of the text are all of interest.

Because of a strong desire to make this work relevant to the Church member in the pew and not simply the academy, the resulting Christology will be applied to the construction of an Anglican Eucharistic Prayer.  The Eucharistic prayer of the liturgy, with its strong emphasis on narrative, is particularly well-suited to presenting this Christology in an accessible form.

This work is driven by a concern that the contemporary Church member is ill-equipped to share the meaning of the person and work of Jesus Christ with persons who have little or no understanding of the biblical 'story.'

Is supervised by

• Professor Gerard Loughlin
• DJ Kennedy