Between Vision and Obedience-Rethinking Theological Epistemology

The discussions about subject and validation in our late modernity tend to oscillate between the "e;weak"e; self of postmodernity ("e;empty"e; or "e;rhetorical"e;) and neo-Cartesian versions trying, as they do, to recover a discredited foundation. Correspondingly, the solutions advanced range from calls for a "e;New Enlightenment"e; (in the face of the resurgence of myth and "e;the irrational"e;) to attempts to "e;re-enchant the world"e; (in the face of the growing threat of an impersonal instrumental Reason). The present study seeks to respond theologically to such a situation from the perspective of God's action in and towards the world by engaging two prominent philosophical/theological figures who continue to inform such discussions today, namely, Georg Friedrich Hegel and Paul Ricoeur. The upshot of this response points to a view of rationality that follows the drama of God's engagement with the world, thus involving both dying and resurrection, ascesis and abundance, suffering witness and eucharistic communion.