Exploring Ethical Potentials of Christian Narrative Testimonies

Abstract

Over the last decades, the role of narratives in Christian theology and ethics has been debated controversially. In light of this, this article explores the ethical potential of Christian narrative testimonies. First, it shows that the mode of Christian testimony to God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ is narratively structured. Second, it unfolds a threefold hermeneutic of these narratives: a hermeneutic of the simultaneous presence and absence of God in these testimonies, a hermeneutic of commentary and criticism, and a hermeneutic of attentive humility in the face of other narratives. Last but not least, ethical potentials of Christian narrative testimonies come into view: These narratives can bear witness to God’s absent presence, especially when they reveal themselves as radical contingent, when they are open to transformation by narratives of the other and when they motivate people to question the status quo of any given society in order to act for a more just future.

Keywords

• narrative theology
• narrative ethics
• christ event
• radical contingency
• hermeneutic of the present-absent god
• hermeneutic of commentary and criticism
• hermeneutic of attentive humility