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This book focuses on the relationships between phenomenology and theology, which have been varied and complex but seem currently in an inconclusive and loosely defined state. Methodological rigor is not much in evidence, and the two disciplines continue to defy any authoritative synthesis. While both disciplines grapple with questions concerning the fundamental structures of human experience, their relationship is troubled by the elusive roles of Revelation and faith, which threaten the scientific autonomy of philosophy on one side and disable theologians for consistent philosophical discourse on the other. This volume revisits that conundrum from various perspectives, as it at once repristinates some of the most vibrant points of encounter and opens possibilities for new beginnings. It begins with the theological musings into which leading phenomenologists have been drawn from the start, with special reference to Husserl, Heidegger, and Michel Henry, as well as backward glances to Fichte, Schelling, and Blondel. A second section takes up specific theological themes and examines how phenomenological approaches can refine thinking on them. These include the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Eucharist, Grace, and Prayer. A dialogue between phenomenology and classical theologians is staged in the third section: Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Eckhart, and Karl Rahner. The closing section ranges more widely, discussing atheism, non-realist theology, and Hinduism from phenomenological angles, and showing how these topics too come within the ambit of theology.
List of contents
Introduction: Phenomenology, Experience, and the Spiritual Life
Joseph Rivera
Part I: Phenomenologists in Theological Mode
1 Lived Experience and Faith: Transcendental Phenomenological Prolegomena
James G. Hart
2 Husserl and God
Emmanuel Housset
3 Intersubjectivity, Ethics, and the Christic Dimension in Husserl's Transcendental Phenomenology
Maria Villela-Petit
4 The Later Heidegger and Theology
Joeri Schrijvers
5 Phenomenology and Theology in Heidegger's Readings of Schelling
Joseph S. O'Leary
6 From Love to Auto-affection: Divine Revelation in Fichte's Religionslehre and Michel Henry's Radical Phenomenology
Frédéric Seyler
Part II: Theological Themes
7 Incarnational Phenomenology
Tamsin Jones
8 A Phenomenological Reading of the Resurrection
Brian D. Robinette
9 A Phenomenological Approach to Ritual Practices
Christina Gschwandtner
10 Becoming Living Works of Art: A Phenomenology of Liturgy
Bruce Benson
11: Phenomenology of the Gift (and Grace)
Jason W. Alvis
12: Kierkegaard and the Phenomenology of Patience
J. Aaron Simmons
13: The Enigma of Suffering in Phenomenology and Theology
Jeffrey Bloechl
14: The Gift of Joy
Robyn Horner
Part III: Phenomenological Readings of Theological Classics
15 Temporality and Signification: The Augustine Constitution of Time
Vincent Giraud
16 Denys the Areopagite among the Phenomenologists
Ysabel de Andia
17 To Live and Think without Why: Eckhart's Affinities with Phenomenology
Jean Greisch
18 The Prospects of a Christian Phenomenology in Karl Rahner
Peter Joseph Fritz
PART IV Reaching out beyond the Theological Enclave
19 Invoking the God, Welcoming the Stranger
Jacob Rogozinski
20 Religion without Religion
Colby Dickinson
21 Phenomenology, Theology, and Religious Studies
Nikolaas Cassidy-Deketelaere
22 Hinduism and Phenomenology
Olga Louchakova-Schwartz
About the author
Joseph Rivera is an Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Dublin City University, Ireland.
Joseph S. O’Leary is an Irish theologian who taught literature at Sophia University, Tokyo, and held the Roche Chair for Interreligious Research at Nanzan University in Japan.
Summary
This book focuses on the relationships between phenomenology and theology, which have been varied and complex but seem currently in an inconclusive and loosely defined state.
Report
"Theological Fringes of Phenomenology is one of the latest volumes within the wider movement known as the 'theological turn in French phenomenology'. The collection contains four parts bringing together twenty-two essays, which are written by a wide variety of scholars - emerging, mid-career, and emerita - from around the globe: Australia, South Africa, USA, and Europe. [...] Overall, Theological Fringes of Phenomenology presents readers with easy access to current questions and responses to the relation between phenomenology and theology. Although the essays are written quite accessibly, the content of the essays will still likely appeal primarily to those graduate students and academics working directly on these figures or this fairly niche field." - Mark Novak in Religious Studies
