Phenomenology and Theological Research

Louchakova-Schwartz, Olga

doi:10.1515/opth-2018-0047

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although such phenomenological analysis is not always theoretical, it does highlight the experiential relation that is of a particular kind of transcendence towards the divine as an other, of death as an intersubjective phenomenon, and of heroic martyrdom as a template for sectarian continuity. In such an experience, phenomenology expresses the structure of religious experience as it is informed by one's human situation (Louchakova-Schwartz 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heroism and Being-towards-Death: On Sacrificial Martyrdom in Contemporary Shiʿism

Ayoub

2023

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the philosophy of martyrdom, heroism, and death, with reference to Islam in general and Shiʿism in particular. This paper will be divided into two parts; the first will highlight the etymological and philosophical significance of the Arabic term martyrdom (istishhād) and its interrelation with the notion of testimony (shahāda), allowing for the clarification of the complexity of the existential privation of death and the communality of heroic martyrdom. The second part will move beyond the observation of Qurʾanic canonical sources by traversing traditional Shiʿi references and narratives, allowing for a reflection on the articulation of the ontology of martyrdom, such as its temporal horizon and mortality. Consequently, the state of affairs surrounding the phenomenon of heroic martyrdom embodies testimonies of both love and hate, of belongingness and enmity, and of devotion and hostility. Yet, the identification of such heroism is, in practice, coupled with a tacit sense of a Heideggerian ‘fall’ due to its inseparability from the pull of religious, social, and communal violence and aggression. Thus, in both theory and practice, a phenomenology of heroic martyrdom and death takes into account the ideological and societal contexts of the use of violence and the concrete rituals in its mediation of aggression.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heroism and Being-towards-Death: On Sacrificial Martyrdom in Contemporary Shiʿism

Ayoub

2023

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

What is it like to be unable to gather physically for Sunday church services? Phenomenological reflections on three church leaders’ experiences of community during COVID-19

Hyde

Joseph

2023

Practical Theology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Being and Time-less Faith: Juxtaposing Heideggerian Anxiety and Religious Experience

Lyonhart

2020

Open Theology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AbstractIn Heidegger, fear reveals the thing to be feared in a fuller way than theory can. However, anxiety is distinct from fear, for while fear is directed towards a specific thing within the world, anxiety is anxious about existence itself, disclosing the totality of Being. A similar method could be applied to faith. Arguably, faith is a mood; a feeling of trust in the divine that can be phenomenologically consistent and overwhelming. However, faith is not necessarily directed towards a specific object within the world. One cannot point and say: “God is right there!” Indeed, attempts to do so through miracles, teleology or dialectics have been roundly critiqued by the Western tradition. But then what is this mood of faith disclosing if not something within the world? Perhaps, like anxiety, faith is not revealing an object within the world, but the world as a totality. Since God—at least the God central to much of the Judeo-Christian tradition—is not a being but Being itself (or in some formulations is actually ‘beyond being’), God therefore cannot be disclosed in the world as an object but has to be disclosed as that which is transcendently beyond it. Such a conclusion does not simply flee the realm of the everyday, but derives from, and legitimates, basic descriptions of religious experience. Specifically, Judeo-Christian descriptions of (1) divine providence, (2) happiness/ joy, (3) the eschatological ‘not yet’, and (4) Divine Hiddenness. This paper will argue that appropriating Heidegger’s phenomenological method in his discussions of fear/anxiety and applying them to Judeo-Christian descriptions of faith thus leads to a radically different ontology from that of Heidegger himself, offering a renewed basis for religion that contrasts the nothingness revealed by anxiety with the divinity revealed by faith, challenging us to weigh for ourselves which mood is more swaying.

show abstract

Phenomenology and Theological Research

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Heroism and Being-towards-Death: On Sacrificial Martyrdom in Contemporary Shiʿism

Heroism and Being-towards-Death: On Sacrificial Martyrdom in Contemporary Shiʿism

What is it like to be unable to gather physically for Sunday church services? Phenomenological reflections on three church leaders’ experiences of community during COVID-19

Being and Time-less Faith: Juxtaposing Heideggerian Anxiety and Religious Experience

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About