Systematic Theology and Hermeneutical Issues on Language: contributions of theology as discourse in Robert Jenson and of the epistemological potential of metaphorical language in Paul Ricoeur br

Taking into account the linguistic turn of the twentieth century and the associated critique to rationalist epistemology that informs modern systematic theology in its logical-deductive connections, we find in proposals from thinkers such as Robert Jenson and Paul Ricoeur the hermeneutical potential to open epistemological horizons for systematic connections informed by the richness of language resources. The present article seeks to establish a dialogue between these proposals to envision epistemological possibilities that pay attention to the discourse and the language of Scripture, in order to benefit church discourse about the newness of the gospel of God's reign. Jenson's conception of theology as a discourse of faith offers an alternative to influential Greek abstract epistemology in the history of Western thought. For his part, Ricoeur develops a hermeneutical-philosophical approach that is sensitive to the deep and complex articulation of metaphorical thought in the announcement of God's reign. As a result of this dialogue between Ricoeur's hermeneutical proposal and Jenson's notion of theological discourse, the article suggests that the epistemological contributions of Ricoeur's biblical hermeneutics, in the movement from reading Scripture to theological formulation, are relevant to the hermeneutical formulation of church discourse about the gospel in contemporary systematic theology.