Dr. Hanna Reichel, an internationally recognized Barth scholar and constructive theologian, discusses their book 'After Method' which challenges the redemptive potential of any theological methodology. They explore the connection between design and theology and the playful and transgressive nature of queer theology. The chapter also includes a casual conversation about the book and beer camp.
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Hanna Reichel's Theological Origins
Hanna Reichel's parents both worked for the church, exposing them to diverse Christian communities.
Early exposure sparked questions of justice and meaning, leading them to theology despite initial resistance.
insights INSIGHT
The Church's Dual Role
Reichel's experience in Latin America exposed them to the church's simultaneous role as a resource and a source of institutional problems.
This sparked a fascination with the tension between lived faith and academic theology.
insights INSIGHT
Not Belonging in Theology
Reichel observed students at Princeton Seminary, from diverse backgrounds, feeling a sense of not belonging in theological spaces.
This "not belonging" stems from traditional exclusion and evolving anxieties about the validity of established theological discourse.
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I am thrilled to have Dr. Hanna Reichel on the podcast for the first time! Our conversation centers around their newest book After Method.
Hanna Reichel is Associate Professor of Reformed Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Reichel is an internationally recognized Barth scholar and constructive theologian.
After Method assumes the impossibility of doing theology right–and moves beyond it. Organized as a conversation in two voices—with systematic-theological commitments represented by Karl Barth and constructive-theological commitments represented by Marcella Althaus-Reid—this book calls the redemptive potential of any methodological program into question. Indeed, the search for a full and complete theological account of reality has only further fragmented theological discourse. Thus, Hanna Reichel argues that method cannot “save” us—but that does not mean that we cannot do better. After Method harnesses the best insights systematic and constructive theologies have to offer in their mutual critique and gestures toward a “better” theology.
Utilizing architectural metaphor, Reichel pulls from systematic and constructive approaches to develop an understanding of theological work as conceptual design, responsibly ordering and structuring given materials for a purpose. This necessitates a more realistic adaptation to reality for theology, expanding its standards to encompass the experiences and perceptions of people and speaking the truth available to it. The honesty, humility, and solidarity generated through the failure of method liberates theology to a more playful and tentative cruising of different approaches and redirects its attention to “misfits” and outsiders. Equally demanding and self-relativizing, the resultant ethos is better able to do justice to the reality of the world and the reality of God than doctrinal orthodoxy or methodological orthopraxy.
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