Givenness and existence: On the possibility of a phenomenological philosophy of religion

Nikolaas Deketelaere

doi:10.1057/s41599-018-0184-7

Abstract

The so-called theological turn in recent French phenomenology has been the subject of a heated debate in France and elsewhere. This article outlines a possible future for this movement by considering the possibility of a phenomenological philosophy of religion distinct from a phenomenological theology. It argues that Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness does not establish this possibility, as it aims at a theophanic experience and is therefore ultimately inscribed within a logic of faith. It is then with Jean-Luc Nancy’s phenomenology of existence that a more plausible, though undeveloped, possible future for phenomenological philosophy of religion comes into view: not aimed at theophany (from faith), but rather at, what the article calls, the existential situation that facilitates or inhibits religious experience (about faith). This, the article argues, is the only way of limiting phenomenological philosophy to the possibility of revelation, leaving it to theology to consider the actuality of Revelation, as Marion deems necessary. It is thus also the only way for a phenomenological philosophy of religion to have a future as distinct from theology, that is to say, for it to be possible to speak phenomenologically about religious experiences regardless of whether this is done from a position of faith or not. In establishing this possibility, the article will emphasise the often neglected phenomenological and existential aspects of Nancy’s thought.

Highlights

To hear God’s word does not mean to wander around the distant lands of metaphysics, but at long last, to come to oneself, to learn to see oneself, to be revealed and become apparent to oneself, as one really is: belonging to God and so very worthy of questioning. — Barth 1982, p. 516. In his 1988 essay ‘The Possible and Revelation’ (2008a [1988]: p. 1), Jean-Luc Marion raises one of the most controversial questions of contemporary French philosophy: “Can phenomenology contribute in a privileged way to the development of a ‘philosophy of religion’? In other words, can ‘philosophy of religion’ become a ‘phenomenology of religion’?” The essay contains Marion’s first articulation of the idea of the saturated phenomenon, a phenomenon so rich in intuition that it overwhelms any possible intentional horizon
Marion’s move is controversial, for it identifies this new mode of phenomenality with “the regime of revelation” (2008a, p. 16), and understands the revelation of Christ as “the preeminent saturated phenomenon” (2017a, p. 142), placing religious phenomena at the heart of phenomenology
In his 1991 book The Theological Turn in French Phenomenology, Dominique Janicaud describes with concern how Marion is part of a larger movement, including Emmanuel Lévinas, Michel Henry and Jean-Louis Chrétien

Summary

Introduction

In his 1988 essay ‘The Possible and Revelation’ (2008a [1988]: p. 1), Jean-Luc Marion raises one of the most controversial questions of contemporary French philosophy: “Can phenomenology contribute in a privileged way to the development of a ‘philosophy of religion’? In other words, can ‘philosophy of religion’ become a ‘phenomenology of religion’?” The essay contains Marion’s first articulation of the idea of the saturated phenomenon, a phenomenon so rich in intuition that it overwhelms any possible intentional horizon. According to Marion, religious phenomena are justified in virtue of the principle of principles, yet classical phenomenology did not acknowledge this because its understanding of this principle was internally inconsistent: “not because intuition as such limits phenomenality, but because as intuition it remains framed by two conditions of possibility, conditions that themselves are not intuitive but that are assigned to every phenomenon.

Results

Conclusion