Phenomenology of Interior Life and the Trinity

Robert Farrugia

doi:10.35765/forphil.2020.2501.5

Abstract

Michel Henry radicalises phenomenology by putting forward the idea of a double manifestation: the “Truth of Life” and “truth of the world.” For Henry, the world turns out to be empty of Life. To find its essence, the self must dive completely inward, away from the exterior movements of intentionality. Hence, Life, or God, for Henry, lies in non‑intentional, immanent self-experience, which is felt and yet remains invisible, in an absolutist sense, as an a priori condition of all conscious experience. In Christian theology, the doctrine of the Trinity illuminates the distinction between the immanent Trinity (God’s self‑relation) and the economic workings of the Trinity (God‑world relation). However, the mystery of God’s inmost being and the economy of salvation are here understood as inseparable. In light of this, the paper aims to: 1) elucidate the significance of Henry’s engagement with the phenomenological tradition and his proposal of a phenomenology of Life which advocates an immanent auto‑affection, radically separate from the ek‑static nature of intentionality, and 2) confront the division between Life and world in Henry’s Christian phenomenology and its discordancy with the doctrine of the Trinity, as the latter attests to the harmonious unity that subsists between inner life and the world.

Highlights

Michel Henry, one of the major proponents of the “Theological Turn,” 1 proposed a new phenomenology of Life in stark contrast to the phenomenology of being-in-the-world
Henry struggles explicitly with the limits of phenomenology, as a theory and method, as he blatantly expresses a sense of disillusionment with both the original Husserlian ideal—that phenomenology would revive genuine interior life—and with the course taken by the majority of post-Husserlian phenomenologists in the opposite direction: outward
Henry frames his phenomenology with Christianity, making explicit references to the New Testament and especially the Gospel of St John, where God is equated with Life (Jn 14:6 NRSV)

Summary

Introduction

Michel Henry, one of the major proponents of the “Theological Turn,” 1 proposed a new phenomenology of Life in stark contrast to the phenomenology of being-in-the-world. In light of all this, Henry strives for a reversal of phenomenology, proposing instead a radical turn inwards which he believes will manage to bring phenomenology to its true conclusion Henry frames his phenomenology with Christianity, making explicit references to the New Testament and especially the Gospel of St John, where God is equated with Life (Jn 14:6 NRSV). In Christian theology, the doctrine of the Trinity 2 illuminates the distinction between the immanent interior Trinity (God’s self-relation) and the transcendent economic workings of the Trinity (God-world relation). This distinction, does not bring about separation and conflict. This can be found in the works of other prominent phenomenologists, such as Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-Louis Chrétien, who form part of the Theological Turn in phenomenology (Janicaud 2000)

Objectives

Conclusion