Jeffrey Bloechl

One important approach to the theme of divine revelation proceeds by way of reflection on theophany, the appearing of God. Yet, as Jean-Louis Chrétien has argued, the latter cannot be thought without implying and calling for a conception of theocrypsis, the mystery of God. This appearing that is also a concealing is of interest to phenomenology no less than to theology. Among phenomenologists, Heidegger has thought concealment together with unconcealment most rigorously, showing that being is both concealed and unconcealed by beings. Being, however, is not God, and a careful juxtaposition of the distinct manners in which Being and God appear sheds some light on the task of understanding what is proper to divine revelation.

The experience of surprise involves an encounter with novelty that transforms one’s understanding of the prevailing context and even of oneself, as a participant there. However, in the order of understanding absolute novelty is unintelligible, and absolute transformation would suspend the unity of the one who lives through it. We find indications for these theses in some reflection on Paul of Tarsus.Paul was undoubtedly taken by powerful surprise when on the road to Damascus he heard the voice of Jesus. Yet what we know of his religious practice as an observant Jew suggests a range of conditions that may well have prepared him for what transpired there, and what we know of his subsequent actions suggest a long period of discernment. These considerations outline the possibility of further existential psychological work, without claiming to render Paul's experience fully transparent.

_Philosophy as a Spiritual Exercise_ investigates distinctive contributions to the discipline of philosophy that have arisen out of the Society of Jesus. The essays in the collection span the history of the Society, from its foundation until today, and refer to many of the founding documents and Fathers of the Order. Throughout, there is the question of the relation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to philosophy. As a result, the book offers ways to think about how philosophy relates to spiritual development and how spiritual development relates to philosophy.

Phenomenology has attended often to the theme of pain, but less to suffering. Careful study of the latter leads to results that correspond with observations appearing in the philosophy of medicine and in literature. The difference between pain and suffering exposes the fact that in some instances the latter defies conceptions of subjectivity widely accepted in phenomenology. The subject who suffers is a subject who struggles to give meaning to his or her experience, and in some instances loses the capacity entirely. A phenomenological account of these possibilities sharpens the challenge brought to the theology that, under the heading of theodicy, defends the unitary meaning of all experience. The theology that abandons theodicy may thereby recover a strong sense of its own biblical roots, which nurture a love of the God-man who suffers out of love for us.

The thought of Jean-Louis Chrétien is most familiar to those who have taken up the theological turn in French phenomenology, yet it defies reduction to either phenomenology or theology, or for that matter spirituality, literature, or Greek thought. Written in beautiful French prose and argued with unsurpassed erudition, Chrétien’s works defy easy interpretation. One nonetheless finds a center of gravity in attempts to define and then elaborate an original account of human being in terms of call and response, from which there follow penetrating studies of language and body, as well as illuminating approaches to a range of themes including temporality, prayer, and religious reading. This volume gathers original work from leading scholars in the fields of philosophy, theology and poetics, including Chrétien’s collaborators, successors, and Anglophone interpreters. They engage his work along its main lines, at once presenting it in summary fashion and exploring its strengths and weaknesses for our understanding of some of the topics and problems that held his prolonged attention. Readers new to Chrétien will easily find a number of points of access, while more advanced readers will find that their understanding is both deepened and enriched. Contributors: Rudolf Bernet, Jeffrey Bloechl, Emmanuel Falque, Jérôme de Gramont, Crina Gshwandtner, Emmanuel Housset, Stephen E. Lewis, Jean-Luc Marion, Catherine Pickstock, Andrew Prevot.

To act mercifully is to do more than what is required for justice. The act appears as a positive exception to the rule of law, and thus exhibits an intentionality irreducible to consciousness of a social or political order. In this philosophy of Levinas, occasional references to mercy shed some light on the goodness of the good that is otherwise occluded by overt concentration on social or political justice. However, Levinas’s account of the act itself is not entirely convincing, and attempts to improve upon it lead toward a different conception of being and nature than one finds in his works.

This essay interprets and responds to Richard Kearney's metaphysics of possibility and hermeneutics of religion against the background of Nietzsche's proclamation of the death of God and the theodicy problem. Kearney's work is thus read as an interesting but ultimately problematic attempt to preserve or perhaps reinstate religious thought after the modern critique of idols. In addition, his positions are compared and contrasted with some of authors with whom he seems to be in limited agreement (for example, Plotinus, Hillesum) as well as some with whom he clearly breaks (for example, Girard, Sölle).

Does religious thinking stand in opposition to postmodernity? Does the existence of God present the ultimate challenge to metaphysics? Strands of continental thought, especially those running from Kant, Husserl, and Heidegger, focus on individual consciousness as the horizon for all meaning and provide modern philosophy of religion with much of its present ferment. In Religious Experience and the End of Metaphysics, 11 influential continental philosophers share the conviction that religious thinking cannot afford to disengage from the challenges of modern European philosophy. Together they provide a rich and intriguing set of answers to questions surrounding the meaning of religious experience. Topics include subjectivity, selfhood, and rationality; language, community, and ethics; the influence of Jewish and eastern religions on religious experience; God as phenomenology; and religion in the postmodern age. These lucid and arresting essays bring together many of the leading voices in the contemporary continental debate on God and religion.