Abstract
This chapter theologically analyzes the task of Christian formation by bringing Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Stanley Hauerwas into dialogical interplay. While Hauerwas is to be commended for foregrounding formation, it seems that he lacks a pneumatology adequate for the task. This claim is evident when comparing Hauerwas to Barth. If Barth provides a robust account of the Spirit’s agency but lacks an adequate account of the church as the object of formation, Hauerwas errs in the opposite direction by offering a thick account of the church but no Spirit to form it. Bonhoeffer is then presented as a mediating bridge between the two. The chapter concludes by offering constructive theses about Christian formation and by showing how this theological analysis bears upon ecclesial practices.
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Taylor, D.W. (2016). Theological Formation: Dialogical Interplay Between Barth, Hauerwas, and Bonhoeffer. In: Chandler, D. (eds) The Holy Spirit and Christian Formation. Christianity and Renewal - Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42667-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42667-9_8
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42666-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42667-9
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