Waiting at the Foot of the Cross

by Pamela R McCarroll, Douglas John Hall (Foreword by)

Overview

How do we hope in the face of modernity's failure and postmodernity's absence of foundations? How do we hope when the future seems fearful and no clear way forward appears? How do we hope when despair, indifference, and cynicism dominate the psychic landscape of English-speaking North America? In dialogue with theologians of the cross George Grant and Douglas John Hall, this book unmasks the failure of hope in our time and the vacuum of meaning that remains. As an exercise in the theology of the cross, Waiting at the Foot of the Cross explores the North American context as one in which true hope is discovered only when life's negations are engaged from a posture of waiting trust. Such hope is not passive or blind. Rather, it is attentive, active, open, and spiritually grounded in the One who meets us when all hope is spent. The final chapter proposes a way toward hope for today that inspires subversive resilience in the face of the ambiguities and vicissitudes of life. Readers interested in the theology of the cross, in thinking theologically in our time and place, and those interested in the character of Christian hope will find this book compelling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620320631
Publisher:	Pickwick Publications
Publication date:	12/24/2013
Series:	Distinguished Dissertations in Christian Theology , #11
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Pamela R. McCarroll is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Director of Field Education at Knox College in the University of Toronto. She is certified as a Teaching Supervisor by the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care (CASC) and ordained in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Pam's interest in hope grows out of her clinical work in spiritual care and her yearning to think and live the faith amidst rapid changes in church and public life.

Table of Contents

Foreword Douglas John Hall xi

Acknowledgments xxv

1 Hope at the End of Hope? 1

The Crisis of Hope, North American Style

A Theological Response to the Crisis of Hope

Why a Theology of the Cross?

Hope as Waiting

Theology of the Cross and Theologies of Liberation

Why George Grant and Douglas Hall?

The Book in Outline

Part 1 The Method of the Cross as Waiting

2 Luther's Theology of the Cross and Theological Method 27

Luther's Theology as Method

Suffering, Mastery, and Thought in Luther's Method of the Cross

The Epistemology and Hermeneutic of the Cross

3 Grant's Method of the Cross 42

Grant and Hall: Athens and Jerusalem

Grant's Method: An Introduction

Revelation and Reason in Tension

Revelation Serves Reason

Reason Serves Revelation

Revelation and Reason are One

Grant's Paradoxical Method in Conclusion

4 Hall's Method of the Cross 63

Thinking about Athens and Jerusalem

Hall's Epistemology of the Cross: The Big Picture

Hall's Epistemology: Dialectical and Dialogical

Reason and Revelation: Distinct and Discontinuous

Revelation Seeks Reason

Reason Seeks Revelation

Revelation and Reason Seek Mutuality

Hall's Dialogical Method in Conclusion

Part 1 in Conclusion: Methods of the Cross in Dialogue-Waiting

Part 2 Deconstructing Modern Mastery: Waiting on Hope

5 Theology of the Cross and Contextuality 89

The Particular and the Universal

The Hermeneutic of the Cross: A Contextual Lens

Grant and Hall on the North American Context

6 Grant on Mastery and the Possibility of Hope 99

Mastery, Hope, and the Conquest of the "New World"

Mastery, Hope, and Empire in Canada

Mastery, Hope, and Religion

Mastery, Hope, and Freedom

Mastery, Hope, and History

Mastery, Hope, and justice

Mastery, Hope, and Technology

Grant in Conclusion: Mastery Has Mastered Us

7 Hall on Mastery and the Possibility of Hope 142

Fear of the Darkness: Hall on the Crisis of Hope

Mastery, Hope and Doctrine

Mastery, Hope, and God

Mastery, Hope, and Christ

Mastery, Hope, and Resurrection

Mastery, Hope, and the Imago Hominis

Mastery, Hope, and the Church and Mission

Mastery, Hope, and Eschatology

Part 2 In Conclusion: Deconstruction as Waiting

Part 3 Waiting at the Foot of the Cross

8 Toward a Theology and Practice of Hope 191

Waiting as Hope

What Is It That We Wait For?

Hope as Waiting for O/other

Hope as Waiting in Relation to Time and History

Hope as Waiting: Passive and Active

Hope as Waiting: Trust, Receptivity, Openness, Attentiveness, Reverence

Waiting at the Foot of the Cross in our Context

Practices of Hope as Waiting for Today

Prayerful Living

Joy, Delight, and Laughter

Nurturing Community

Bibliography 209

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Pamela McCarroll makes an eloquent plea for North American Christians to commit a subversive and countercultural act. Her creative application of the theology of the cross effectively reinterprets our primary vocation in terms of waiting in hope, open to a hidden God whom we cannot master. This book is important for all who are caught in systems of modernity that limit hope to what we can imagine."
—Sarah Travis, Adjunct Professor of Homiletics, Knox College, University of Toronto, Canada

"Waiting at the Foot of the Cross is a compelling invitation to reconsider the theology of the cross in a North American context through the complementary lenses of George Grant and Douglas John Hall. Far more than simply a recapitulation of Grant and Hall, however, the discussion turns over new theological ground and offers a thick account of hope as 'waiting' that is both prophetic and consoling. McCarroll has written an important and timely book."
—Thomas E. Reynolds, Associate Professor of Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, Canada

"Her focus is 'hope at the end of hope' when crises of violence, poverty, and ecological devastation threaten as never before. Elaborating Grant's and Hall's criticism of technological mastery, she proposes a theology and practice of hope which is the converse of mastery, which both waits and acts, in a posture of trust and openness to the God of the cross. An important contribution to North American theology today!"
—Harold Wells, Professor Emeritus, Systematic Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, Canada

"Ultimately, McCarroll envisions practices of a hope that waits at the foot of the cross. Hers is a crucial word for the once-mainline-church in a postmodern world."
—David Schnasa Jacobsen, Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and Director of the Homiletical Theology Project, Boston University School of Theology

"McCarroll's unique contribution shines through as she advances 'waiting at the foot of the cross' as a posture of receptivity that eschews easy cynicism while anticipating a hope not seduced by the official optimism symptomatic of American exceptionalism. A must read!"
—Allen Jorgenson, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Assistant Dean, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

"Pamela McCarroll makes an eloquent plea for North American Christians to commit a subversive and countercultural act. Her creative application of the theology of the cross effectively reinterprets our primary vocation in terms of waiting in hope, open to a hidden God whom we cannot master. This book is important for all who are caught in systems of modernity that limit hope to what we can imagine."
—Sarah Travis, Adjunct Professor of Homiletics, Knox College, University of Toronto, Canada

"Waiting at the Foot of the Cross is a compelling invitation to reconsider the theology of the cross in a North American context through the complementary lenses of George Grant and Douglas John Hall. Far more than simply a recapitulation of Grant and Hall, however, the discussion turns over new theological ground and offers a thick account of hope as 'waiting' that is both prophetic and consoling. McCarroll has written an important and timely book."
—Thomas E. Reynolds, Associate Professor of Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, Canada

"Her focus is 'hope at the end of hope' when crises of violence, poverty, and ecological devastation threaten as never before. Elaborating Grant's and Hall's criticism of technological mastery, she proposes a theology and practice of hope which is the converse of mastery, which both waits and acts, in a posture of trust and openness to the God of the cross. An important contribution to North American theology today!"
—Harold Wells, Professor Emeritus, Systematic Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, Canada

"Ultimately, McCarroll envisions practices of a hope that waits at the foot of the cross. Hers is a crucial word for the once-mainline-church in a postmodern world."
—David Schnasa Jacobsen, Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and Director of the Homiletical Theology Project, Boston University School of Theology

"McCarroll's unique contribution shines through as she advances 'waiting at the foot of the cross' as a posture of receptivity that eschews easy cynicism while anticipating a hope not seduced by the official optimism symptomatic of American exceptionalism. A must read!"
—Allen Jorgenson, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Assistant Dean, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo Ontario.

From the Publisher