94. One place in my writings . . .

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One place in my writings during the 1980s where I explicitly assert that the dogmatic task of systematic theology is its cura prior occurs in my Auseinandersetzung with Schüssler Fiorenza. Her whole procedure, I argue:

"... simply will not do . . . because it in effect rejects the condition on which this, like any other form of the apologetic task of theology, can alone be undertaken—namely, that any proposal for executing the task must serve equally well to carry out theology's first and equally essential dogmatic task. This means that if a feminist interpretation of the Bible is justified, it is so, not only or primarily because the experience and struggle of women demand it, but also and first of all because it is a demand of faith itself. And this means, similarly, that if such an interpretation certainly does not preclude the elimination of particular patriarchal texts and traditions, the criterion for such elimination is nevertheless not the world view of contemporary feminism, but the New Testament's own understanding of human existence"(Doing Theology Today: 239).

12 June 2002