Religion, Theology, and Philosophy in Heidegger’s Thought

Abstract

Professor Feher here argues for the strict connection between philosophy and theology in Heidegger’s thought, and more specifically, that it was with an eye to, and drawing upon, his previous understanding of religion and religious life, as well as of the relation between faith and theology, that Heidegger was to conceive of philosophy and its relation to human existence in Being and Time. Heidegger re-examined thereby the whole Western tradition of both philosophy and theology, subjecting their world-view and conceptuality to a severe and thorough-going criticism. Heidegger’s early work, then, elaborated the standards for ‘the destruction’ of both ‘Christian theology and Western philosophy.’ Heidegger’s thinking can therefore be characterized both as philosophy and theology in spite of, or following from, his devastating criticisms of both. Just as Heidegger asks everyone interested in philosophy to turn to the genuine subject matter of thought—namely, Being—so he invites all theologians at last to turn to the genuine subject matter of theology, faith. Professor Feher makes this case by appealing both to salient biographical details (Heidegger’s early study of theology and existential investment in religious matters) as well as to Heidegger’s claims about Christian theology throughout his corpus.