Phenomenology Out of Bounds? Jean-Yves Lacoste’s Phenomenology and the Presence of God

Abstract

This article articulates Jean-Yves Lacoste’s account of phenomenology. It does so by tracing Lacoste’s relation to Husserl. Although the influence of Heidegger on Lacoste’s thinking has been sufficiently studied, his relation to the father of phenomenology perhaps is not. The aim of this essay is to see whether Lacoste’s practice of phenomenology still qualifies as phenomenology proper or whether, as some might be inclined to think, it is an improper venturing into the terrain of theology. For this, we offer an account both of Lacoste’s conception of “theological thinking” and of the phenomenon he describes so beautifully, the presence of God in liturgical and sacramental presence. This article concludes by, perhaps, putting into parentheses some of Lacoste’s findings by pointing to Jacques Derrida’s take on Husserl’s Origin of Geometry, questioning once more the bounds and boundaries of Lacoste’s phenomenology of faith and opening avenues for further research.