On tragedy and transcendence : a critical exposition of Donald MacKinnon and Rowan Williams in the context of a modern debate

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is focused on the relation between Christian metaphysics and philosophies of the tragic. Its context is within a modern debate, a setting where this interrelation has become contested. Its research question can be phrased so: can a classical account of transcendence account for 'the tragic'? Or to put the question from the other side: are there grammars of transcendence associated with 'the tragic' (here understood as a metaphysical or philosophical trope) that hinder the reception of 'tragedy' within orthodox theology? For the purposes of this study, such a question becomes concretized within the debate around the critical reception of Donald MacKinnon, particularly amongst David Bentley Hart and John Milbank. The core argument of this dissertation proposes that the most pointed tension within this controversy is centered on the language of transcendence, and how Christian orthodoxy has traditionally conceptualized it (e.g. aseity, the analogia entis, the transcendental convertibility of goodness and oneness, etc.). It also suggests that there are refractions of 'the tragic' and 'transcendence' within the modern period that have created problems for the interrelations of a classical-orthodox metaphysics and the tragic. We specifically note three incarnations within the modern period, namely: the Kantian sublime, the suffering Absolute, and a rejection of the privatio boni. All of these concepts are related to the question of 'the tragic' in the contemporary debate, and also have application to the discussion of MacKinnon, as seen in the critical responses to his work we will be addressing. This study hopes to move the conversation forward by engaging in a critical exposition of Donald MacKinnon and Rowan Williams within the context of this contemporary discussion. The research suggests that MacKinnon's insightful commentary on the interconnections between metaphysics and the tragic is marred by a strong dependence on Kantianism, as well as some misguided attacks on the Augustinian account of evil. Thereafter, this study wagers that Rowan Williams provides a corrective supplementation to MacKinnon: he adopts Mackinnon's emphases on taking tragedy in complete seriousness, while simultaneously transcending several drawbacks associated with MacKinnon's approach. This can be seen in the way that Williams is able to incorporate a deep sense of historicity and the tragic within a robust metaphysics of creativity, language and analogy. Moreover, he offers a defense of aseity, analogical participation and the privatio boni in a manner that exhibits a coherency with a sense of the tragic. Overall, we desire to make a contribution to the conversation by placing MacKinnon's and Williams's reflections on the tragic within their wider theological projects, hereby developing the argument that classical orthodoxy is able to sustain, with integrity, a vision that includes tragedy within it.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University