Da incerteza à esperança: Ensaio de uma soteriologia narrativa. Uma releitura teológica do motivo da incarnação

Translated title of the contribution: From uncertainty to hope: Essay on a narrative soteriology. A theological rereading of incarnation's motif

Research output: Book/ReportBook

2 Downloads

Abstract

The Christian experience is marked by unpredictability and risk. This was especially felt in the later Middle Ages, during which the image of God underlying religious experience contained within itself the contours of the unpredictable and the insecure, for no one could give the believer the certainty of being saved, always exposed to the gratuitousness of grace. What theology felt in the Middle Ages corresponds to the essential core of the Christian kerygma and is therefore valid today as well. The kerygma proclaims that salvation is offered to all men, for God wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (cf. Tim 2:3). With reference to, among others, the biblical figures of Noah's ark and Peter's boat, patristic theology saw the Church as a safe space of salvation. We owe the famous axiom salus extra eclesiam non est to Saint Cyprian of Carthage, and the Second Vatican Council proclaims that the Church is an efficacious sign and a sure place where salvation can be found (LG 8). However, the Church does not guarantee salvation. We owe the famous axiom salus extra eclesiam non est to Saint Cyprian of Carthage, and the Second Vatican Council proclaims that the Church is an efficacious sign and a sure place where salvation can be found (LG 8). However, the Church does not guarantee salvation to anyone, for this is a gift from God and not an acquired certainty. No one can be sure of a positive outcome of their own existence. We live in hope, not in the assurance of salvation. Soteriology is marked by this uncertainty and radical insecurity. Rather than being certain of salvation, the Christian must humbly invoke the grace of being numbered among the elect. The present study, an essay of narrative soteriology, aims to be a contribution to give reasons for hope. The movement from uncertainty to hope evokes the trajectory of human existence as such and also of the abyssal risk of love, even of the human and divine dying of love, where the meaning of life is decided.
Translated title of the contributionFrom uncertainty to hope: Essay on a narrative soteriology. A theological rereading of incarnation's motif
Original languagePortuguese
Place of PublicationLisboa
PublisherUCP Editora
Number of pages137
ISBN (Electronic)9789725403730
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Publication series

NameBiblioteca de Investigação

Keywords

  • Theology
  • Religion
  • Incarnation
  • Christian experience
  • Religious experience
  • Middle ages
  • Soteriology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'From uncertainty to hope: Essay on a narrative soteriology. A theological rereading of incarnation's motif'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this