Elizabeth Johnson-Revisonist Method of Theology

Elizabeth Johnson is perhaps one of the most preeminent Catholic theologians of the new millennium. The fact that she is a woman religious who writes from a feminist perspective adds to her unique and distinguished career. This paper will examine the revisionist method espoused by Elizabeth Johnson, in an effort to understand her approach to Christian feminism. An overview of revisionist methodology will be presented so as to understand the framework in which Johnson works. References to some of Johnson!s writings will then be presented in an effort to illustrate her revisionist method. Finally a survey of various critics will then be presented in an effort to determine what has made her method, approach and style groundbreaking in the area of feminist theology. In its simplest form, revisionist methodology involves looking back at one!s tradition in an effort to gain new insights into the situation at hand or to uncover what has been lost. In a more elaborate definition, David Tracey states that, ”In its briefest expression, the revisionist model holds that a contemporary fundamental Christian theology can best be described as philosophical reflection upon meanings present in common human experience and language, and upon the meanings present in the Christian fact.”1 Tracy then outlines five theses that are intended to explicate this particular model: The first thesis defends the proposition that there are two sources for theology, common human experience and language, and Christian texts. The second thesis argues for the necessity of correlating the results of the investigations of these two sources. The third and fourth theses attempt to specify the most helpful methods of investigation employed for studying these two sources
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David Tracy, Blessed Rage for Order: The New Pluralism in Theology (New York: The Seabury Press, 1975) 43.

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(methods include phenomenology of religious dimension for human experience and language and historical and

References: David Tracy, Blessed Rage for Order: The New Pluralism in Theology (New York: The Seabury Press, 1975) 43. 36 Philip Murnion, “An Interview with the Author,” Church 9 (Fall, 1993): 53 Bibliography Bracken, Joseph. “The Theology of God of Elizabeth A. Johnson,” in Things New and Old: Essays on the Theology of Elizabeth A. Johnson, ed. Phyllis Zagano and Terrence W. Tilley, 38. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999. Johnson, Elizabeth. “Feminist Hermeneutics.”Chicago Studies 27 (1988) : 129-130.