Page History

...

I have argued that, "in the theological context, as in others, appropriation, or reflection ... , can occur on different levels. To appropriate, or reflect, on either level is to make judgments using certain criteria. But whereas, on the first, less critical level, the criteria are simply the consuetudinary criteria established in the particular context of reflection, on the second, more critical level, they are the ultimate criteria of experience and reason as these require to be used in that particular context" ("Existentialist Theology").

As I've continued to reflect on this, I've realized that it admits oftwo important inferences. First, although I have for the most part had judging credibility in mind in thinking this, I now see that it also applies just as validly, mutatis mutandis, to judging appropriateness--or, for that matter, fittingness. The crucial point has to do with the criteria of judgment, not with what is being judged. Ifthe criteria are consuetudinary criteria only, the judgment, whatever it is about, is relatively less critical, whereas if the criteria are ultimate, the judgment is relatively more critical, again, regardless of what it is about.

...