ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the quite extraordinary manner in which John Milbank interrelates reflection on the Trinity, creation, contingency, truth, and nonviolence. It shows why Milbank's argument for the unavoidability of narrative as the form of truth reflects his understanding of creation as the ongoing nonviolent work of the God we know as Trinity. In Theology and Social Theory Milbank attempts to display a counterontology to liberalism in the hope that by so doing he will force the "secular" to acknowledge its own contingency. Milbank argues that because narrative is more basic than explanation, there can be no genuine sociological comprehension of the inherently "inexplicable" character of Jesus of Nazareth. Milbank notes that Augustine denied the existence of true virtue and justice in a pagan society because the pagans failed to worship the true God. The materiality of the Spirit's work is the reason Milbank can make the astounding claim that theology must be its own social science.
