Date of Award

Spring 2022

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Religion, PhD

Program

School of Arts and Humanities

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Christine Helmer

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Kevin Wolfe

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

Terms of Use & License Information

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Rights Information

© 2022 Kin Ting C Cheung

Keywords

Barth, call, calling, Eckhart, form, Whitehead

Subject Categories

Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

This dissertation aims to show how divine calling can be considered a multifaceted reality. The theory of divine calling includes God, humans, the content of the call, and the interaction between God and humans. It embraces a wide range of data: theology, anthropology, metaphysical considerations, and subjective experience. As this dissertation wants to understand divine calling in a multifaceted way, this dissertation examines it from three different perspectives. The theology/philosophy of Karl Barth, A. N. Whitehead, and Meister Eckhart is utilized. They represent three distinctive theological forms: revelational, metaphysical, and experiential. This dissertation studies their theology/philosophy according to their forms and creates conservations among them so that they can mutually illuminate each other. A theology of divine calling is constructed by cross-examining the insights from the three perspectives. Lastly, this dissertation concludes that the divine calling is an ontological relation between God and humans. It can be understood from two perspectives. From the divine perspective, the entire Trinity involves the divine call. God evolves with humans in the cycle of divine call. From the human perspective, humans interact with the divine call and experience the transfiguration of identity.

ISBN

9798802712597

Share

COinS