Continental Philosophy Of Religion Research Articles

Job's Final Insight, Narratives, and the Brain

In continental philosophy of religion, the hermeneutics of narratives takes a central role. Analytic philosophy of religion, on the other hand, considers religious statements mostly as assertions of fact. It examines the logical form and semantics of religious statements, addresses their logical commitments, and examines their epistemological status. Using the example of a passage in the Book of Job, it is investigated whether the methods of analytic philosophy are also suitable for analyzing religious narratives. The question is explored whether there is a genuine form of knowledge, besides propositional factual knowledge, which is bound to the form of narration. Particular attention will be paid to the inter-personal pragmatic embeddedness of narratives. The connection between second-personal knowledge and narratives is examined. Using the historical example of Ignatius of Loyola's theory of religious knowledge, it is argued that propositional argumentative knowledge is only one form of religious knowledge among others. The others are second-personal and narrative in character. Having thus established this distinct form of knowledge, it is asked whether our best empirical knowledge of the neurophysiological basis of intuitive and non-argumentative cognition provides a foundation for better understanding inter-personal religious cognition within narratives.

Where Is Richard Kearney Coming From? Hospitality, Anatheism, and Ana-deconstruction

After reviewing the recent publications of Richard Kearney, appearing between 2017 and 2021, including an anthology of his essential writings over his career, and covering topics such as hospitality, God, religion, anatheism, theopoetics, hermeneutics, and touch, there follows a critical engagement with Kearney's work, one that sets out in particular how, despite the very considerable overlap in our work, as fellow travelers in continental philosophy of religion and hermeneutics, our positions differ on what we mean by God and by welcoming the tout autre.

KHÔRAL LOVE? KIERKEGAARD AND DERRIDA ON HOSPITALITY

This paper explores the notion of hospitality and faith in Derrida and Kierkegaard. The aim is to trace the topological core of existence in relation to an ongoing debate in contemporary continental philosophy of religion about khôra. The paper shows how khôral traces are at work in Kierkegaard’s thinking in relation to the topological proximity of love. The claim is, that Kierkegaard emphasizes, not a hostility but a vulnerability of what I coin khôral love – the vibrating space between the anonymous and the amorous, call and response. The unknown X of the khôral becomes the topos of existence – the “stepping out”, the “you are here (X)”. A “you” called forth by the commandment of love or the visitation of the stranger.

ПРОЄКТ "НЕПОМІТНОЇ (НЕЯВЛЕНОЇ) ФЕНОМЕНОЛОГІЇ" ДЖЕЙСОНА АЛВІСА В КОНТЕКСТІ РЕЛІГІЙНОГО ДОСВІДУ

We analyzed the work "The Inconspicuous God: Heidegger, French Phenomenology, and the Theological Turn", Jason W. Alvis, Indiana University Press, 2018, as well as reviews of it by Daniel Cox, Joerie Shrivers, Bernard Prusak. J. Alvis takes as a basis Heidegger's concept of eine phänomenologie des Unscheinbaren, which he tried to apply to the phenomenological study of religion and religious experience. Thus, synthesizing the concept of Martin Heidegger with the legacy of French philosophers, J. Alvis develops his own idea of inconspicuous phenomenology. The presented project by J. Alvis differs significantly from the context in which the analytical tradition today examines religious experience. Taking into account the novelty of the book, one can speak not only about the significant significance of this project in the continental philosophy of religion, but also about a new step in phenomenology, research on the developments of M. Heidegger and research on the concepts of religious experience. In the article, we analyzed how the approach of J. Alvis is connected with reduction, as well as with the era of entertainment, which the author so often mentions. Although J. Alvis himself does not mention the problem of God-forsakenness and secularized society, nevertheless his project can be successfully considered in the context of these problems of the 21st century. The work of J. Alvis that we have chosen, as well as the reviews of it, have not been translated into either Ukrainian or Russian, so this article can be perceived as an impetus for a dialogue between modern researchers of phenomenology and religious experience. Overcoming the stages of argumentation for his own project of imperceptible phenomenology, J. Alvis raises the ever-actual topic of dialectical perception and, in the end, calls for abandoning the outdated metaphysical dialectics. Quite a provocative thesis, but this is exactly how the researcher proposes to come up with a statement that the "phenomenology of religion" is not an oxymoron.

God Without Metaphysics: Some Thomistic Reflections on Heidegger’s Onto-Theological Critique and the Future of Natural Theology

The Heideggerian critique of onto-theology has attained a semi-canonical status for continental philosophy of religion. But is the critique itself sound, and does it actually result in a richer philosophical and theological discourse concerning God? In this paper, I argue that Heidegger’s onto-theological critique suffers from serious difficulties. First (section II) I examine the critique, summarizing and condensing the critique in its essentials. I use Westphal’s fourfold criteria as a way of giving it some precision, while presenting it in relative independence from Heidegger’s own account of Being. In section III, I examine the results of non-onto-theological discourse on God post-Heidegger, suggesting, using the examples of John Caputo and Richard Kearney, that Heidegger’s onto-theological critique has not inspired a less problematic religious discourse. In the fourth and final section, I question the legitimacy of the critique itself. While Heidegger’s critique of onto-theology has the seemingly admirable goal of rendering our discourse about God less instrumental and idolatrous, a careful analysis of the criteria themselves reveals that onto-theology either misinterprets natural theological discourse on God or subjects it to impossible requirements.

Phenomenology and Ritual Practice

Abstract This paper highlights several problems in the contemporary phenomenological analysis of religious experience in Continental philosophy of religion, especially in its French iteration, as manifested in such thinkers as Jean-Luc Marion, Michel Henry, Jean-Yves Lacoste, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Emmanuel Falque, and others. After laying out the main issues, the paper proposes a fuller investigation of religious practices, such as liturgy or ritual, as a fruitful way to address some of the identified limitations. The final section of the paper assesses what questions remain and how one might draw on existing resources in these thinkers to push a phenomenological analysis of religious practices further in ways that broaden phenomenology of religion beyond its current somewhat narrow strictures and commitments.

Praying in the Breach: Worshiping through the End of Metaphysics

In recent years, discussion has raged within theologies inspired by Continental philosophy of religion regarding the supposed “overcoming” of ontotheology. In this article, I will consider the theological methodology of Louis-Marie Chauvet, a sacramental theologian whose work has been highly influenced by these discussions. For Chauvet, it is the liturgy that provides human beings with the necessary means, not for overcoming ontotheology, but for learning to livewithit in a healthy way. Through the liturgy, we learn towork throughontotheology, and thus to hear the call of Being to appropriation and thankful response. This is, however, quite a bit to ask of our liturgies, and I suggest that the only way that Chauvet's method can function is if it is placed in a framework of dialogue. I adopt this framework from Chauvet and expand upon it, which results in an innovativerelectureof Chauvet's theology.

Look, a human being! Anthropomorphic solipsism in postsecular thought

Adding a woman’s voice to an edited volume, or a person of color on an academic panel, or an ecumenical, universalist message of welcome under a church flag—these may be well intentioned gestures of inclusion, but, even as an unintended result, minority discourses either stand on the margins, as the ‘other,’ or they morph and disappear into the dominant discourse. What is needed instead is a change of ‘being.’ Whatever we call the philosophy of religion, it owes its conception to the European Enlightenment, and the latter, its understanding of the modern subject to Christian imperialism and the colonial enterprise. How can it ever become an inclusive field? This paper reflects on the promise of inclusion of postsecular theological discourses within the Continental philosophy of religion. Can such discourses, coming on the heels of the death of God and the postmodern death of universals, overcome their patriarchal, colonial, and racist cultural archive? Such a possibility glimpses a future worth pursuing. To answer the question, this paper plays on the intersectionality of the human being as such—an imagined abstract condition of possibility of our existence—and human facticity, the embodied lived experience that is historically conditioned, culturally determined, gendered and racialized as we know it today—identities expressing or underwriting white privilege, the economic exploitation of the global south, or hegemonic Western institutions of knowledge and power. The paper analyzes key aspects of well-known postsecular theological discourses (Caputo, Vattimo, Taylor, Levinas) through the intersectional lens of feminist, race, postcolonial, and decolonial critiques (Schutte, Du Bois, Carter, Dussel, Mignolo). Error is human, but today’s sexism, racism, or economic oppression suggest it isn’t human errors we ought to correct so much as our erroneous understanding of what we call a human being. A materialist conception of being (Malabou) and a theology whose God is in and of language open the way to engage the complicity of the philosophy of religion with the dominant and hegemonic ideologies that underwrite, besides the field, today’s world order.

The Beginning, Not the End: On Continental Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies

The Beginning, Not the End: On Continental Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies

Non-philosophical Christ-poetics beyond the mystical turn in conversation with continental philosophy of religion

The religious turn in continental philosophy has opened the door for postmetaphysical mystical theology. Postmetaphysical mystical theology seeks to understand the non-relation relation of language (text) to the Other. Yet, this non-relation relation to the Other, who is every other, can also be interpreted differently to the mystical understanding. For example, Žižek argues that the Other, which is often experienced as the uncanny, the unpredictable and the contingent (lived spirituality), is not necessarily the result of some mystical unknowable Otherness but is a consequence of the way the subject’s own activity is inscribed into reality. These experiences of lived spirituality or experiences of Otherness can, rather than being interpreted as an in-breaking of the mystical Other, be interpreted otherwise, as a grammatological consequence of the inability and impossibility of language (Lacan). Therefore, in this article, Žižek’s thoughts function as a bridge to bring this mystical turn back into critical conversation with continental philosophy and particularly with the thoughts of Derrida, Laruelle and Stiegler. The contemporary mystical turn in theology rediscovers something of this non-religious religion. Derrida’s thoughts are in close proximity to negative theology and yet there is an important difference. This difference will be explored and further developed towards Laruelle’s non-philosophy, which does not translate into a non-religion religion or postmetaphysical metaphysics but remains a non-philosophy or maybe a science of Christ. This article will conclude with a tentative exploration of a postmetaphysical Christ-poetics beyond the mystical turn.

Negative Ecstasies: Georges Bataille and The Study Of Religion Edited by Jeremy Biles and Kent L. Brintnall. Perspectives in Continental Philosophy. New York: Fordham University Press, 2015. Pp. 311 + xii. Cloth, $95.00; paper, $32.00.

This volume brings the unconventional theorizing of Georges Bataille, whose impact has been felt in other areas of the humanities for the last fifty years, into the study of religion, where his thought has had only a limited influence through the writings of scholars like Amy Hollywood and Michael Taussig. To remedy this tardy and sporadic reception, the authors gathered here have used Bataille's work to “do” as well as “undo” religious studies. Not only do the collected essays utilize Bataille's ideas about the sacred, economy, sacrifice, sovereignty, and transgression to explicate religious phenomena like mystical experiences and esoteric sexual rites, they also enact those ideas in order to “disrupt” religious studies and treat disciplinary boundaries as “so many occasions for transgression.” Here, we have Hugh Urban and Jeffrey J. Kripal respectively using Bataille to examine sexual difference in the Assamese cult of the Tantric goddess Kāmākhyā and the role of trauma in mysticism across cultures alongside David Chidester, Kent Brintnall, and Paul Hegarty exploring the religious dimensions of World Cup football, unprotected anal sex between men, and electronic noise music. Bataille's utility (a word he would surely despise) in interpreting aspects of religion that overlap with his areas of interest (sex, violence, excess) is in evidence alongside the destabilizing effects of his ideas when they are accepted, “bareback,” as it were, into existing theoretical models. Along with an excellent brief introduction to Bataille for religionists, there are essays that compare Bataille with Kristeva, Foucault, and Teilhard de Chardin, others that use his ideas to understand the connected religions or pseudo-religions of neoliberalism and free market capitalism, and an exploration of Bataille and dreams. Especially welcome is Stephen Bush's essay drawing out some of the often-overlooked ambiguities in Bataille's writings as well as the potentially troubling nature of his meditations on cruelty. The essays collected in Negative Ecstasies bear the marks of being carefully selected and thoughtfully commissioned from a wide array of scholars. This book is highly recommended for those with interests in continental philosophy of religion, theoretical approaches to the study of religion, popular culture, and the genealogy of religious studies.

The Future of Continental philosophy of religion

The Future of Continental philosophy of religion

A Welcome and Update from the Editor of Medieval Mystical Theology

With individual and institutional subscriptions steadily increasing world-wide and a healthy stock of papers constantly being received from international authors, the journal’s reputation appears to be growing positively. With this in mind, and to help with the added pressure, I am delighted to welcome three associate editors to the team. These are, Dr Joseph Milne, Dr Rico Monge, and Dr Rebecca Stephens. Both Joseph and Rebecca are stalwarts and long-serving trustees of The Eckhart Society, and possibly share the record for contributions to the journal when it was under the name of the Eckhart Review. Both bring with them a wealth of academic and editorial experience. Joseph is also the editor of a journal for the Henry George Foundation called Land and Liberty, while Rebecca is also a novelist. Rico previously served as a guest editor for volume 21, number 1, of Medieval Mystical Theology, a process made that much easier by his enthusiasm, organization, and professionalism. Rico is based in the US and will represent the journal at conferences while also looking out for quality papers. In July 2014, I was pleased to organize with my colleagues, David Lewin and Simon Podmore, an enjoyable and successful conference titled, Mystical Theology and Continental Philosophy: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. This collaboration between the Mystical Theology Network and the Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion was held at Liverpool Hope University, and attracted a strong international delegation of speakers bringing with them a thought-provoking array of papers. Prominent at the conference were our publishers, Maney, and I would like to thank Liverpool Hope University, The Eckhart Society, and Ashgate for generously sponsoring different aspects of the event. Selected proceedings from the conference will be published as part of an ongoing series by Ashgate, while a good number of authors have also expressed an interest or have already sent their papers to MMT for consideration. I hope you enjoy the papers in this present issue as well as the introduction from Martin Ganeri, who was responsible for first gathering the authors together for this comparative theme that comprised the 26 Annual Eckhart Society Conference. medieval mystical theology, Vol. 23 No. 2, November, 2014, 99

In the Midst: A Discussion of Intensities: Philosophy, Religion and the Affirmation of Life

Katherine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare begin this collection of essays, produced from the inaugural conference of the Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion (Liverpool Hope University, 2009), by reflecting on life’s ‘haunting’ of philosophy. Life’s dynamism—constantly shifting, fluctuating, hesitating and pushing forward, stretching between birth and death in anything but a safely predictable manner—has always been problematic for philosophy, resisting categorisation and explanation. They present life as an ongoing hermeneutical negotiation, wherein ‘lies the possibility of affirmation’ (p. 1). However, from which standpoint should we affirm life? Immanence or transcendence? Or, with Derrida, should we foster a notion of survival that confounds this dualistic separation (p. 2)? Starting with Kant and Hegel, the editors provide a contextual background and discuss the problems of separating organic life from inorganic nature and the organic human body from unifying supersensible concepts like ‘consciousness’, ‘freedom’, ‘creativity’. Further, they trace modern philosophy’s concern with the organism’s duplicitous nature, arguing that ‘it calls for an irritated thinking, rather than a process of rationalisation which aims at a totalising conceptual grasp’ (p. 6). Nietzsche shows that life-affirmation does not consist in transporting oneself to an imaginary ‘outside’ or resting in the pure spontaneity of immanence, but relates to a sovereign moment of ecstasy. They suggest that this moment of sovereignty may be found in living through negative experiences, a moment ‘always internally divided, never resting in a fixed position’ (p. 6). Affirming a conflicted life could shape our political and ethical engagement with it, allowing for an appropriately interested hermeneutics. This could lead to a moment which—like Žižek’s take on the reversal of idealism in Marx (and Feuerbach)—is not a mere reversal, turning back to practice from theory, but a change of direction that risks dangerous revolution for the sake of emancipation, creating and engaging in a struggle (p. 7). Presenting Foucault’s argument that biopower has rendered individuals submissive and manipulable, and adding Deleuze and Guattari’s understanding of contemporary politics which stratifies life to determine forms of subjective possibility, the editors SOPHIA (2014) 53:289–298 DOI 10.1007/s11841-014-0412-6

After the Postsecular and the Postmodern: New Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion. Edited by Anthony PaulSmith and DanielWhistler. Pp. ix, 415, Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010, $49.99.

The Heythrop JournalVolume 55, Issue 4 p. 754-755 BOOK REVIEW After the Postsecular and the Postmodern: New Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion. Edited by Anthony Paul Smith and Daniel Whistler. Pp. ix, 415, Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010, $49.99. David Mesing, David Mesing Duquesne UniversitySearch for more papers by this author David Mesing, David Mesing Duquesne UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 19 May 2014 https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.12119Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume55, Issue4July 2014Pages 754-755 RelatedInformation

Traumatized Subjects: Continental Philosophy of Religion and the Ethics of Alterity

Next article No AccessTraumatized Subjects: Continental Philosophy of Religion and the Ethics of Alterity*Tamsin JonesTamsin JonesTrinity College Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 94, Number 2April 2014 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/674952 Views: 102Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref © 2014 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Matthew J. Peterson Pathogenesis: Freud’s Paul and the question of historical truth, Continental Philosophy Review 55, no.11 (Mar 2021): 35–53.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-021-09545-wTamsin Jones Bearing Witness: Hope for the Unseen, Political Theology 17, no.22 (Apr 2016): 137–150.https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2016.1161300

Review of After the Postsecular and Postmodern: Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion, edited by Anthony Paul Smith and Daniel Whistler

Review of After the Postsecular and Postmodern: Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion, edited by Anthony Paul Smith and Daniel Whistler

The Wonder and Spirit of Phenomenology and Theology: Rubenstein and Derrida on Heidegger's Formal Distinction of Philosophy from Theology

While Heidegger's earlier phenomenological writings inform much contemporary discourse in the continental philosophy of religion, his 1927 essay on ‘Phenomenology and Theology’ offers a largely uncontested distinction between philosophy and theology on the basis of their possibilities as sciences following ontological difference. This paper reconsiders Heidegger's distinction by invoking spirit and wonder, concepts Jacques Derrida and Mary-Jane Rubenstein have more recently emphasized as central to thought that is open to that which ruptures metaphysical schemas. I contend Heidegger's use of ontological difference as a formal distinction between philosophy and theology distances us from the wonder, spirit, and truth (alētheia) that undoes the binaries behind which we take shelter. However, I temper this critique with the recognition that Heidegger, Derrida, and Rubenstein equally recognize an inescapable repetition of metaphysical thinking in the philosophy of religion.

Ethics and Religion in Continental Philosophy

Ethics and Religion in Continental Philosophy

Ethics and Religion in Continental Philosophy

Ethics and Religion in Continental Philosophy