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Document Details :

Title: Mirroring Truth
Subtitle: A Theological Appropriation of Imagination along with Speculation
Author(s): GELDHOF, Joris
Journal: Louvain Studies
Volume: 36    Issue: 1   Date: 2012   
Pages: 3-21
DOI: 10.2143/LS.36.1.2162447

Abstract :
Historically, both philosophers and theologians have mistrusted imagination. This article calls this mistrust into question. It is argued that theology – in its constant effort to illuminate truth through understanding – can be served very adequately by utilising the imaginative powers of speculation and the speculative powers of the imagination. In order to support this argument, this article first presents a brief overview of the historical understanding of imagination and speculation. Then, the article presents several justifications of theology’s use of speculation and imagination. Next, the theologians Franz Xaver von Baader and Johannes Evangelist von Kuhn are examined in order to support the claim that speculative theology is important in the search for theological truth. Finally, the article explains why and how the imagination can be understood as a speculative faculty and how relying on imagination ‘as’ speculation can be beneficial for theology.

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