Silence, secrecy, unknowingness, humility, and failure: these may not be the theological virtues with which we are most familiar, but they are, these three papers argue, the theological virtues we need. In thinking about the futures of theological reflection, the presenters consider the aesthetic and virtuous dimensions of theological work, but without investing in fantasies of performative virtuosity. Instead, they argue for an openness to humility, failure, and suffering as essential dimensions of theological reflection in the current time.
Engaging with a contemporary Korean American literary work, Tastes Like War by Grace M. Cho, this paper will show the Korean American diaspora’s aesthetic mode of witnessing the hidden historical trauma, the haunting family secrets, and ongoing secrecy forced upon Korean diaspora communities within U.S. culture via the violence of assimilation to demonstrate the subtle but dynamic relationship between unclaimed past traumatic wounds and lives of the current generation. While analyzing the phenomena of intergenerational trauma registered in the aesthetic form via the lens of trauma studies, this paper will present how trauma’s haunting representation in the Korean American diaspora literary work led theologians to the territory of silence, secrecy, and unknowingness—the very reality of traumatic wounds and survival, thereby challenging traditional theological approaches to human suffering, especially the conventional sin-guilt-redemption paradigm and the concept of a single victim.
Philosophers and psychologists have recently developed accounts of intellectual humility as a virtue. This paper argues that theologians ought to respond to these accounts by conceiving of the task of theology as inherently apophatic or negative. It describes the major definitions of intellectual humility offered by philosophers and psychologists, noting limited theological engagements with this work so far. It then notes modern varieties of negative theology in thinking influenced by Kantian and pragmatic philosophical critiques, feminist and political theological approaches, and mystical theologies rooted in spiritual practices. This leads to a brief account of how some theologians attempt to evade the limitations that such intellectual and socio-political critiques necessitate. Constructively, the paper then offers an account of theology as an intellectually humble attempt to make connections among diverse people and ideas. While limited in its aspirations, this remains a challenging task that requires historically, geographically, culturally, and socially broad knowledge.
Christian theologians have recently begun to adopt failure as a theological virtue, particularly in regard to practice and method. Natalie Wigg-Stevenson in Transgressive Devotion, and Hanna Reichel in After Method both pursue a (re)constructive approach to theological normativity through queer subversions of patriarchal heteronormative paradigms. Each results in a different methodological consideration of theological (un)knowing and practice of (un)becoming. This paper use Jack Halberstam’s “low theory” as a method to read between Wigg-Stevenson’s performance theology and Reichel’s conceptual design and argue for theological kenosis in the failures of Christian life.