Phenomenology and Theology

O’Leary, Joseph S.

doi:10.5840/philtoday2018227202

Cited by 6 publications

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“…How can the philosopher prescind from such a precious truth, even though its source is religious faith?' 23 In other words, if the philosopher is to accept the claims of faith in her account of human personhood, this will inevitably result in the philosophical discourse becoming distorted by those claims. The discourse will become theology disguised as a philosophical discourse, because it incorporates the claims of faith.…”

Section: Falque On the Conversion Of Philosophymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He writes, 'Falque's project is a kind of Hegelianism…except that instead of cannibalizing theology philosophy ends up by being cannibalized by it, in the sense that the discourse it produces is straightforwardly theological and directly subject to the assessment of the theological community.' 5 O'Leary's principal worry is that Falque calls for a practice of philosophy that blurs the proper boundaries between philosophy and theology, resulting in a philosophy that makes claims beyond its proper scope.…”

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On the Conversion of Philosophy: The Problems and Promise of Emmanuel Falque’s Theology of Philosophy

King

2020

The Heythrop Journal

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Emmanuel Falque's recent account of the relationship between philosophy and theology in the context of French phenomenology establishes a methodology for the use of theology in phenomenology and vice versa. His Crossing the Rubicon: The Borderlands of Philosophy and Theology advocates for what he describes as a 'tiling' or overlaying approach to the two disciplines whereby the common foundation laid by philosophy is overlaid by theology, which performs a conversion of the philosophical description of human finitude by means of theology. 1 This approach, while drawing on the time-honored model of Thomas Aquinas, seeks renewed application by means of fresh engagements between philosophy and theology. Far from hesitating before the 'theological turn' in French phenomenology, Falque argues that making one's theological and philosophical claims explicit not only makes clear the boundaries between them but also enriches the content of those claims. 2 Nevertheless, Falque does grant a privileged status to the discipline of theology, insofar as the truth of revelation, which theology alone knows, is the goal toward which philosophy unknowingly points. While philosophy plays the role of an honored guide for the theologian along the path of humanity, theology ultimately has the final say in philosophy's claims, in which case the philosopher will always be subservient to the theologian. In this article, I engage two opposed readings of Falque's project in order to help situate Falque's claims. Bradley Onishi argues that Falque's articulation of the relationship between philosophy and theology should not be thought of as a relationship of conversion but rather one of transformative encounter. Joseph O'Leary, by contrast, argues that Falque's approach is so much a conversion of philosophy into theology that philosophy in the process becomes wholly consumed. Against these readings, I argue that Falque does claim a conversion of philosophy by theology, but it is a conversion of the meaning of its central object: humanity. In clarifying Falque's argument, it will be important to note that his account operates at two levels: at the disciplinary level of philosophy and theology, as fields of study and research, and at the level of the individual practitioner-the philosopher and the theologian. While Falque's proposal at the disciplinary level faces both philosophical and theological objections, his proposal for the practitioners of these disciplines is much more promising. READINGS OF FALQUE Falque's endeavor to 'rediscover the conjunction of the disciplines' of philosophy and theology, 'beyond the disjunction or the leap carried out so frequently today,' 3 has induced both criticism and commendation, as the contested nature of the relationship between the disciplines

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Section: Falque On the Conversion Of Philosophymentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the Conversion of Philosophy: The Problems and Promise of Emmanuel Falque’s Theology of Philosophy

King

2020

The Heythrop Journal

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Givenness and existence: On the possibility of a phenomenological philosophy of religion

Deketelaere

2018

Palgrave Commun

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The so-called theological turn in recent French phenomenology has been the subject of a heated debate in France and elsewhere. This article outlines a possible future for this movement by considering the possibility of a phenomenological philosophy of religion distinct from a phenomenological theology. It argues that Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness does not establish this possibility, as it aims at a theophanic experience and is therefore ultimately inscribed within a logic of faith. It is then with Jean-Luc Nancy’s phenomenology of existence that a more plausible, though undeveloped, possible future for phenomenological philosophy of religion comes into view: not aimed at theophany (from faith), but rather at, what the article calls, the existential situation that facilitates or inhibits religious experience (about faith). This, the article argues, is the only way of limiting phenomenological philosophy to the possibility of revelation, leaving it to theology to consider the actuality of Revelation, as Marion deems necessary. It is thus also the only way for a phenomenological philosophy of religion to have a future as distinct from theology, that is to say, for it to be possible to speak phenomenologically about religious experiences regardless of whether this is done from a position of faith or not. In establishing this possibility, the article will emphasise the often neglected phenomenological and existential aspects of Nancy’s thought.

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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

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Phenomenology and Theology

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

On the Conversion of Philosophy: The Problems and Promise of Emmanuel Falque’s Theology of Philosophy

On the Conversion of Philosophy: The Problems and Promise of Emmanuel Falque’s Theology of Philosophy

Givenness and existence: On the possibility of a phenomenological philosophy of religion

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

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