Between Barth and Wittgenstein: Pragmatist themes in Hans Frei's 'postliberal' theology (Karl Barth, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Robert Brandom, Wilfrid Sellars)

Hans Frei was one of the most influential American theologians of the latter Twentieth century. This dissertation takes as its focus the genesis and development of his so-called "postliberal" theology. I make the case that the full wealth of Frei's thought requires careful attention to the essentially interdisciplinary, conversational, and pragmatic character of the approach to theological analysis and the study of religion that he articulated. To that end, I offer a reading of Frei's work that illuminates his appropriation of social and cultural theories inspired by the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. I demonstrate how Frei uniquely used these insights in order to explicate and redescribe the theoretical and practical implications of an approach to theology he drew predominantly from Karl Barth.; Reading Frei with detailed attention to the pragmatist and social-theoretical themes of his theology provides several important insights into his work. First, it clarifies the unique stance he strikes between an essentially inter-disciplinary approach and unapologetic theology. Second, it illuminates the over-arching continuity in the development of Frei's work over the course of his career. This dimension of my account at once diminishes the commonly over-stated distinction between the "earlier" and "later" phases of Frei's work, and provides a positive account of the nature of the development that his thinking does, in fact, exhibit. Third, this reading casts into the relief the features of Frei's theological approach that distinguish it from other theologians associated with a 'postliberal' grain.; Having clarified the pragmatist themes running through Frei's theology, I demonstrate how they can serve as points of comparison and mutual instruction between theology of Frei's "postliberal" variety and the conceptual pragmatism articulated by philosophers such as Robert Brandom and Wilfrid Sellars. I employ several of the pragmatist insights provided by Sellars and Brandom in order to move past supposed weaknesses in Frei's reading of Barth, as well as to explicate and expand his social and practical account of the "plain sense" of Scripture and its broader implications for the tasks of theology. This reading of Frei, I conclude, positions his work for investigation of the ethical and political implications that ensue from the "generous orthodoxy" he articulated.