ABSTRACT
Now leaving aside for the moment any discussion of the significant philosophical and theological problems which theologians of a self-styled postliberal persuasion have claimed to find in the first more formal construction of theological liberalism outlined above, it must be acknowledged from the outset tha t important questions exist, as Friedrich Wilhelm Grafs fascinating chapter in the present volume bears eloquent witness, as to whether there really are any particular theologians whose work actually fits this construction.3 Staying with postliberal writings for a moment one might think, for example, of Hans Frei's fascinating retrieval of the mature Schleiermacher as a profoundly ecclesial (in Frei's terms 'type 3')4 theologian who was concerned-contrary to his s tandard depiction since Barth-not with the vain at tempt to establish Christian faith on the basis of a methodologically prior analysis of human religious experience in general or to demonstrate its correlation with such an analysis (Frei's types 1 and 2 respectively) but ra ther with the large-scale but nevertheless-in terms of the primacy of Christ ian faith and discourse-a posteriori a t tempt to give fresh systematic articulation to the Christian community's own understanding in terms meaningful first and foremost to contemporary Christians and by so doing in terms meaningful also to other contemporaries. The more general
W. Hardy and P. H. Sedgwick (eds), The Weight of Glory, A Vision and Practice for Christian Faith: The Future of Liberal Theology, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1991, pp. 5-13. In the Epilogue to the same book ('Epilogue: The Strategy of Liberalism', pp. 299-304, here p. 299) Dan Hardy likewise describes the liberal position as having 'no sharp boundaries' and as being 'as broad in its interests as in the means by which it pursues them'. Further, what Habgood has to say is suggestive of the distinction drawn above between liberalism as a formal strategy and liberalism as a spirit of enquiry. With regard to the present volume, I would point to Peter Hodgson's call for a 'revisionary postmodern liberal theology' as seeking to continue in like fashion with a liberal spirit of enquiry in Christian theology whilst rejecting any claim to neutrality, universality or identity with prevailing secular thought forms. This agreement being noted, I would, however, distance myself from Hodgson's apparent acceptance of the 'decentering of Christ' as being part and parcel of the 'late modern' or 'critical postmodern' package with which he identifies himself.
