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Phenomenology and Systematic Theology
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Phenomenology and Systematic Theology

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Theologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 11545

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Espen Dahl

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Guest Editor
Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
Interests: philosophy of religion; theology; phenomenology
Dr. Theodor Rolfsen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
Interests: philosophy of religion; Nietzsche; Levinas

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For more than a century, phenomenology has been open to religious and theological topics in a way that seems unique in philosophy generally. One might wonder why phenomenology has been so well equipped to engage with theology, given that its founder, Edmund Husserl, took no particular interest in the topic and even deemed that God must be bracketed in the proper phenomenological reduction. Yet, theological topics became decisive among his assistants and pupils, such as Edith Stein and Martin Heidegger. In his early phase, Heidegger took profound interest in Paul, Augustine, Luther, and Kierkegaard, while at the same time he struggled to find a line of division between theology and philosophy. In France, Levinas pursued a more radical way to incorporate religious dimensions. By analyzing the sense of the holy in terms of one’s ethical relation to the Other and thereby one’s relationship to God, Levinas opened a different way of doing phenomenology—no longer in terms of Husserlian intentionality or Heideggerian ontology, but as an articulate response to a revelation addressing us from beyond being. In so doing, however, one can ask whether Levinas transgressed the legitimate boundaries of phenomenology or perhaps transformed its basic conception.

When Dominique Janicaud wrote his essay on the theological turn in France many years later, it was precisely the legitimacy of this transformation that he addressed. If phenomenology wants to explore phenomena that overflow the intentional horizon, Janicaud believed that it must do so with reference to the intuitive evidence given within an immanent framework, which is what secures its position as a rigorous science. The attempt made by Levinas and others to posit a revelation coming from beyond the horizon of immanence is, for Janicaud, to go beyond what phenomenology can legitimately claim. But, must phenomenology stick to Janicaud’s rigorous principles? Or must those principles, faced with revelations, givenness, otherness or verticality, not rather be broadened, precisely to remain true to “the things themselves”? In various versions, such questions have been discussed by the proponents of the “theological turn,” such as Michel Henry, Jean-Louis Chrétien, and Jean-Luc Marion.

Given this context, we invite contributions that explore the possibilities, limitations, and distinctions operative in the relations between phenomenology and theology, both early and late. Some central topics are:

  • What is it about in particular phenomenology that makes it open toward religion and theology?
  • Conversely, what is it about Christian or Jewish theology that makes it speak to phenomenology?
  • Must a certain demarcating line be observed between phenomenology and theology?
  • What are the differences and similarities with regards to how phenomenology and theology approach the question of God?
  • How did the early phenomenologists’ approach to theology differ from the thinkers associated with the theology turn in French phenomenology and the contemporary debate?
  • To what extent can phenomenology be a fruitful companion to Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist theology?

Prof. Dr. Espen Dahl
Dr. Theodor Rolfsen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • theology
  • phenomenology
  • God
  • transcendence
  • immanence
  • the other
  • revelation
 

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

3 pages, 159 KiB  
Editorial
Introduction of Special Issue “Phenomenology and Systematic Theology”
by Espen Dahl and Theodor Rolfsen
Religions 2023, 14(12), 1457; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121457 - 24 Nov 2023
Viewed by 846
Abstract
For over a century, phenomenology has been a major philosophical movement [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

20 pages, 379 KiB  
Article
The Spread Body and the Affective Body: A Discussion with Emmanuel Falque
by Calvin D. Ullrich
Religions 2024, 15(1), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010030 - 23 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1184
Abstract
This article presents a constructive dialogue between contemporary theological phenomenology and systematic theology. It considers the writings of the French phenomenologist Emmanuel Falque by offering a precis of his unique approach to “crossing” the boundaries of theology and philosophy. This methodological innovation serves [...] Read more.
This article presents a constructive dialogue between contemporary theological phenomenology and systematic theology. It considers the writings of the French phenomenologist Emmanuel Falque by offering a precis of his unique approach to “crossing” the boundaries of theology and philosophy. This methodological innovation serves as an intervention into contemporary theological phenomenology, which allows him to propose an overlooked dimension of human corporeality, what he calls the spread-body (corps épandu). Within the latter is embedded a conception of bodily existence that escapes ratiocination and is comprised of chaotic forces, drives, desires, and animality. The article challenges not so much this philosophical description but rather suggests that Falque’s theological resolution to this subterranean dimension of corporeal life consists in a deus ex machina that re-orders these corporeal forces without remainder through participation in the eucharist. It argues that Falque’s notion of the spread body can be supplemented theologically by an account of ‘affectivity’ that is distinguished from auto-affection, as in the case of Michel Henry, and which also gleans from the field of affect theory. This supplementation is derived from current research in systematic theology, which looks at the doctrines of pneumatology and sanctification to offer a more plausible account of corporeality in light of the Christian experience of the affective body. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
16 pages, 281 KiB  
Article
Turning the Theological Turn on Its Head—The Levinasian Secularization of Heidegger’s Theology
by Theodor Sandal Rolfsen
Religions 2023, 14(12), 1464; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121464 - 27 Nov 2023
Viewed by 769
Abstract
In this article, I attempt to contribute to further the understanding of what has happened with the so-called ‘theological turn in French phenomenology’ through juxtaposing two sets of discourses: the theological in Heidegger and the secular in Levinas. While Levinas was identified by [...] Read more.
In this article, I attempt to contribute to further the understanding of what has happened with the so-called ‘theological turn in French phenomenology’ through juxtaposing two sets of discourses: the theological in Heidegger and the secular in Levinas. While Levinas was identified by Janicaud as the first mover in the theological turn, much attention has recently been given to the theological themes in Heidegger’s writings. Less attention has been given, however, to the way in which Levinas’ philosophical and Talmudic writings often seek to be a secular critique of Heidegger’s philosophy. Through showing how a Levinasian secularization of Heidegger’s theology can make sense, I hope to shake up the debate surrounding the theological turn by placing it on its head. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
19 pages, 333 KiB  
Article
Giving, Showing, Saying: Jean-Luc Marion and Hans-Georg Gadamer on Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, and Revelation
by Darren E. Dahl
Religions 2023, 14(10), 1250; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14101250 - 1 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1072
Abstract
For more than two decades, the phenomenologies of revelation emerging from twentieth century French philosophy have met a North American reception framed largely within the context of a hermeneutic critique. This essay seeks to intervene in this situation by developing Jean-Luc Marion’s own [...] Read more.
For more than two decades, the phenomenologies of revelation emerging from twentieth century French philosophy have met a North American reception framed largely within the context of a hermeneutic critique. This essay seeks to intervene in this situation by developing Jean-Luc Marion’s own sketch of a phenomenological hermeneutics and putting it in dialogue with Hans-Georg Gadamer’s account of language in Truth and Method. Thus, in an attempt to further develop Marion’s phenomenological hermeneutics of ‘giving’ and ‘showing’, a space is opened for Gadamer’s notion of ‘saying’. As a result, in the midst of the horizon opened by language itself, the ‘impossible’ phenomenality of revelation shines forth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
13 pages, 254 KiB  
Article
K.E. Løgstrup: Phenomenology of the Social World and Systematic Theology
by Svein Aage Christoffersen
Religions 2023, 14(10), 1231; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14101231 - 25 Sep 2023
Viewed by 889
Abstract
In K.E. Løgstrup’s (1905–1981) theology, the point of intersection between phenomenology and systematic theology is our life experiences. In this article, Løgstrup’s way of combining phenomenology and theology is explored from the 1930s to the 1970s. The idea that life is not an [...] Read more.
In K.E. Løgstrup’s (1905–1981) theology, the point of intersection between phenomenology and systematic theology is our life experiences. In this article, Løgstrup’s way of combining phenomenology and theology is explored from the 1930s to the 1970s. The idea that life is not an amorphous abyss, but God’s creation runs like a connecting thread throughout Løgstrup’s oeuvre. This idea negating a nihilistic understanding of life requires a phenomenology of the social world that explores both the ethical and the metaphysical implications of our life experiences. Human beings are interdependent animals, and in this interdependency, an anonymous and unavoidable ethical demand makes itself present, saying that you have to take care of the life you have in your hands. Sovereign expressions of life are phenomena that support the ethical demand and the idea of creation. In the 1970s, Løgstrup broadened the perspective and explored how the universe is present in our life experiences through our bodily existence and our senses. Even so, there is not an unbroken way from these metaphysical considerations to theology. Christian Faith is based on God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. Life experiences are just the horizon against which it is possible to understand what the Christian message is. Systematic theology connects phenomenology on the one hand and the proclamation of the Gospel on the other hand. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
12 pages, 254 KiB  
Article
The End of Time and the Possibility of World: Between Divinity and Nature
by Felix Ó Murchadha
Religions 2023, 14(9), 1152; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091152 - 8 Sep 2023
Viewed by 927
Abstract
Eschatology is central to Christian theology: the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ is the promise of the “kingdom of God”. This paper takes up this idea in discussion with contemporary Christian theologians and discusses it phenomenologically by recourse to Husserl’s [...] Read more.
Eschatology is central to Christian theology: the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ is the promise of the “kingdom of God”. This paper takes up this idea in discussion with contemporary Christian theologians and discusses it phenomenologically by recourse to Husserl’s account of “horizon”. The horizon is both finite and infinite: always limited in its actualization but with an infinity of potential actualizations. This is explored with respect to time and its relation to the eternal, as well as the dispositions of hope and fear with respect to the eschaton. The final section draws these insights together in a discussion of the eschaton to understand the eschatological destiny of nature in a “new heaven and a new earth” (Revelations, 21: 1) and conceiving of eschatological justice as a harmony of horizonal perspectives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
10 pages, 263 KiB  
Article
Expressing Faith in a Phenomenological Mother Tongue
by Magdalene Thomassen
Religions 2023, 14(9), 1094; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091094 - 24 Aug 2023
Viewed by 822
Abstract
The article first exposes a section in Edith Stein’s masterwork, Finite and Eternal Being, where she explicitly reflects upon the relation between philosophy and theology, and on the possibility of a Christian philosophy. Here, Stein enlarges the scope of rationality when propagating [...] Read more.
The article first exposes a section in Edith Stein’s masterwork, Finite and Eternal Being, where she explicitly reflects upon the relation between philosophy and theology, and on the possibility of a Christian philosophy. Here, Stein enlarges the scope of rationality when propagating faith as a source of knowledge in its own right. The phenomenological first-person perspective and notions of intention and fulfillment help to elucidate the different ways of getting to know God, finding its utmost source in the lived mystical experience. Despite including theological content in her phenomenological analysis, Stein proposes a possible “common ground” where the non-believer is also invited to join in an epistemological effort. This proposition, I suggest, is pointing forward to the contributions of the so-called “new phenomenologists” of the last half-century, Emmanuel Levinas and Jean-Luc Marion being examples of how theology and philosophy, though separate, may enrich each other. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
13 pages, 273 KiB  
Article
Phenomenology, Givenness, Mystery: Dilating Subjectivity
by Joseph Rivera
Religions 2023, 14(8), 1008; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081008 - 7 Aug 2023
Viewed by 883
Abstract
Phenomenology and theology continue to induce interdisciplinary analysis of selfhood and spiritual experience. In what follows, I discuss minimalist and maximalist phenomenologies. The latter opens up space for phenomenology to be informed by the theological concept of mystery. A maximalist phenomenology makes possible [...] Read more.
Phenomenology and theology continue to induce interdisciplinary analysis of selfhood and spiritual experience. In what follows, I discuss minimalist and maximalist phenomenologies. The latter opens up space for phenomenology to be informed by the theological concept of mystery. A maximalist phenomenology makes possible a particular variety of selfhood, what I call the dilated or middle-voiced subject, which belongs neither to pure passivity of recent French phenomenology nor to the strong agency of Cartesian and Kantian legacies. Such a middle-voiced structure facilitates the given to be received in the act of dilation or expansion of the self. The final section discusses the implications this may hold for spiritual experience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
18 pages, 321 KiB  
Article
The Phenomenological and the Symbolical in Richir’s “Quasi-Theology”
by Dominic Nnaemeka Ekweariri
Religions 2023, 14(7), 874; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070874 - 4 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1386
Abstract
If a new generation of phenomenologists (Emmanuel Levinas, Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Jean-François Courtine) in France sought to overcome the “methodic atheism” imposed on the phenomenological method by the fathers of phenomenology, it was at the price of going beyond experience [...] Read more.
If a new generation of phenomenologists (Emmanuel Levinas, Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Jean-François Courtine) in France sought to overcome the “methodic atheism” imposed on the phenomenological method by the fathers of phenomenology, it was at the price of going beyond experience immanent to existence which targeted the invisible, and therefore of lacking a discourse on the critical restriction of the phenomenological method and on the points of contact between phenomenology and theology. The task of this paper is to show how this lack is overcome by Marc Richir’s “quasi theology” viewed from his articulation of the relationship between the phenomenological and the symbolical. This paper argues that whereas for the new French phenomenologists it is usually a question of a subreptitious crossing from one discipline to another, in Richir, what we have is an enigmatic relationship of the overlap between phenomenology and the symbolical. While Richir was only interested in the articulation of the relationship between the phenomenological, the symbolical and the absolute transcendence, his thoughts motivate us to explore, following Emmanuel Falque’s approach, the reciprocal transformation between phenomenology and theology. The paper concludes, on the one hand, that experience remains the immanent ground for phenomenology and theological science and, on the other, that Richir’s approach could be understood as a “metaphysical phenomenology”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
21 pages, 321 KiB  
Article
Phenomenology Out of Bounds? Jean-Yves Lacoste’s Phenomenology and the Presence of God
by Joeri Schrijvers
Religions 2023, 14(4), 494; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040494 - 4 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1382
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenomenology and Systematic Theology)
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