The Rationale for Canonical Theology: An Approach to Systematic Theology After Modernism

What should systematic theology look like after modernism? Many recent answers to this question revolve around the communitarian turn, advocating the retrieval/ressourcement of Christian tradition in order to address the situation after the failure of modernity. While advancing a cogent criticism of modernism, however, communitarianism may jeopardize the functional priority of Scripture as canon. This article introduces and explains the rationale for canonical theological method as an alternative for the theological landscape after modernism.

Whereas communitarian approaches adopt a community-determined, normative, and extra-canonical interpretive arbiter of doctrine, canonical theology views the biblical canon as the uniquely authoritative and sufficient rule of doctrine. Toward providing the rationale for canonical theological method, this article briefly introduces the landscape of systematic theology after modernism, assesses some pertinent opportunities and challenges thereof, then introduces and briefly explains canonical theological method as a compelling way forward for systematic theology.