THE KNUCKLEHEAD
'
S GUIDE TO COVENANTAL THEOLOGY
99
How to Use the Rest of This Book
If you have read this far, certain aspects of Fr. Keefe's argument
may be beginning to sink in, but it is also likely that a little more
'immersion' will help your understanding. The next five chapters,
Chapters 8 - 12, try to provide you with a few more opportunities to
see, in context, what Fr. Keefe's ideas are about.
The two chapters after that, 13 and 14, are a little different. The last
chapter in this book, Chapter 14, is simply a direct quote from
Covenantal Theology. In fact, it's the very last paragraph in that book
(not counting the Notes and the Appendix). It's a good summary of the
whole work -- and it might be a good eventual test: was the rest of this
book clear enough so that some of the meaning of that last paragraph
from Covenantal Theology now actually registers with you?
The second-last chapter in this book, Chapter 13, is different from
all the rest. In Chapters 1 - 12, I try to illustrate Fr. Keefe's thoughts,
though I often use my own examples to do so. Chapter 13 conveys my
own ideas, about Covenantal Theology's immediate practical
relevance.
The chapters that begin right after this page, Chapters 8 - 12,
essentially give examples of how to use words like "covenantal,"
"free," "historical," "order," and "scientific" in complete sentences.
Although in Chapters 8 - 12 I may have done a perfectly awful job
of using those words in sentences, I do use them in sentences, and it is
possible that, until you see them in actual use, you won't fully grasp
just how splendidly ridiculous a meaning they do have within Fr.
Keefe's thought. So: dip your thumb in -- maybe you'll pull out a plum.
Maybe you're curious to know why there can't be any 'Before' the Fall,
or to see how Humanae Vitae might be developed by Catholic
theologians able to use the powerful vocabulary provided them by
Covenantal Theology. Or maybe you'd just like to know why St.
Therese has plenty to do in Heaven.
N.B. This is an html-ized copy of a page from the pdf file, The Knucklehead's Guide to Covenantal Theology.