Joseph Rivera | Dublin City University (original) (raw)
Phenomenology and Theology material by Joseph Rivera
Phenomenology, Givenness, Mystery: Dilating Subjectivity, 2023
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
This book explores the threshold between phenomenology and lived religion in dialogue with three ... more This book explores the threshold between phenomenology and lived religion in dialogue with three French luminaries: Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, and Jean-Yves Lacoste. Through close reading and critical analysis, each chapter touches on how a liturgical and ritual setting or a spiritual vision of the body can shape and ultimately structure the experience of an individual's surrounding world. The volume advances debate about the scope and limits of the phenomenological analysis of religious themes and disturbs the assumption that theology and phenomenology are incapable of constructive interdisciplinary dialogue.
Notre Dame University Press, 2015
This is my first monograph on Michel Henry, which includes long sections on Augustine, some mater... more This is my first monograph on Michel Henry, which includes long sections on Augustine, some material on Descartes, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, and Didier Franck.
Research in Phenomenology, 2019
The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcenden-tal subject... more The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcenden-tal subjectivity in the later work of Edmund Husserl, especially the Cartesian Meditations and the Crisis, and in the strictly phenomenological work of Michel Henry, especially Material Phenomenology; (2) to highlight Henry's radical critique of Husser-lian intersubjectivity and show that such critique, while valuable in its intention, is ultimately misguided because it neglects the important contribution Husserl's complicated vocabulary of lifeworld makes to the study of intersubjectivity; and (3) to point toward a phenomenological conception of intersubjective practice we may call the realm of we-synthesis that prioritizes the first-person perspective rooted in em-pathy, which enables meaningful engagement with the second-person perspective. Working in conjunction with Husserl and Henry on the phenomenological conception of shared life enables the recuperation of the fragile line between subjectivity and intersubjectivity.
Philosophy Compass, 2018
This article discusses the theoretical issues and findings of a recent trend in phenomenology of ... more This article discusses the theoretical issues and findings of a recent trend in phenomenology of religion: the manifestation of the Trinity. Section one highlights the classical model of the Trinity as mystery. The Trinity is as an elusive phenomenon that can be grasped only as an article of faith. Section two outlines important features of manifestation and experience in Husserl's phenomenology, which lays the conceptual groundwork for the phenomenology of religion. Section three discusses two proposals of a phenomenology of the Trinity, in which faith can be understood as an intentional stance that may make possible the Trinity's manifestation as a subjective phenomenon. The conclusion locates the principal weakness of the phenomenology of the Trinity in the proponents' tendency to ignore doctrinal development and theological debate, especially of the fourth and fifth-centuries, which gave shape to the Trinity as a doctrine as such.
Theological Studies, 2016
Recent post-metaphysical trends in contemporary theology seek to overcome "metaphysics," in order... more Recent post-metaphysical trends in contemporary theology seek to overcome "metaphysics," in order to free God-language from the trappings of onto-theology. This means that theology prioritizes the conventional discourse of the church over the universal ambitions of metaphysical language. This article offers a corrective to the "post-metaphysical" corrective by proposing a broader definition of metaphysics, one rooted in concrete experience. In this regard I constructively consider Jean-Yves Lacoste's "conceptual rescue operation" metaphysics in his wide-ranging Etre en danger (201 I)
Philosophy Today, 2018
The theological turn in phenomenology continues to generate cross-disciplinary discussion among p... more The theological turn in phenomenology continues to generate cross-disciplinary discussion among philosophers and theologians concerning the scope and boundaries of counts as a "phenomenon. " This essay suggests that the very idea of the given, a term so important for Husserl, Heidegger, Henry and Marion, can be reassessed from the point of view of Wilifred Sellars's discussion of the myth of the "immediate" given. Sometimes phenomenology is understood to involve the skill of unveiling immediate data that appear as "phenomena" to a conscious and wakeful ego. In conversation with Jean-Luc Marion's volume Givenness and Revelation, I challenge the assumption that phenomena are immediate in their givenness. The final remarks concern the "how" of the givenness of theological data, and in particular, the phenomenon of the Trinity.
Modern Theology, 2013
The first person who sensed profoundly the enormous difficulties inherent in this analysis, and w... more The first person who sensed profoundly the enormous difficulties inherent in this analysis, and who struggled with it almost to despair, was Augustine. Even today, anyone occupied with the problem of time must still study . . . the Confessions thoroughly. 1 -Edmund Husserl
International Journal of Systematic Theology , 2012
While usually denoting the church and/or the sacrament of the Eucharist, the 'mystical body of Ch... more While usually denoting the church and/or the sacrament of the Eucharist, the 'mystical body of Christ' has become a theological grammar for Catholic phenomenologists Michel Henry, Jean-Yves Lacoste and Jean-Luc Marion to think through the possibility of religious experience. This article traces out some of the richly detailed accounts of religious experience proffered by Henry, Lacoste and Marion, paying heed to how they narrate the non-worldly, invisible disclosure of that religious experiencing. The final section outlines a deeper integration of the three by highlighting the need for an encounter with Christ to be both non-worldly and worldly, between presence and absence, and thus an experience that is concrete, lived, but also mediated by the visible church.
Continental Philosophy Review, 2015
An article of Michel Henry's that I co-translated. It is a classic statement of Henry's emphasis ... more An article of Michel Henry's that I co-translated. It is a classic statement of Henry's emphasis on auto-affection as the fundamental ground of phenomenological analysis.
Political Theory and Religion material by Joseph Rivera
Religious Reasons and Public Reason: Recalibrating Ireland's Benevolent Secularism, 2020
Liberal regimes in the West are not homogeneous in their application of secular principles. What ... more Liberal regimes in the West are not homogeneous in their application of secular principles. What kind of "secular" state a particular government promotes depends in large part on the strength and influence of the majority religion in that region. This article acknowledges the heuristic value of a recent threefold taxonomy of secularism: passive, assertive, and benevolent forms of secularism. I take issue with and challenge certain institutional privileges granted to the majority religion in one benevolently secular regime, the Republic of Ireland. I consider how benevolent secularism, while remaining benevolent toward religion, can align its application of secularism in the arena of publicly-funded education (primary and secondary education). A politically liberal regime, defined by the idea of public reason, invokes the principle of publicity, namely, that discourse and public policy be intelligible (and acceptable to a large degree) not only to an individual's religious or moral community but also to the broader collection of members who constitute a liberal state. Drawing on John Rawls' conception of public reason, and using Ireland as a case study, I show how this particular state-religion interrelation can be recalibrated in order to increase the prospects of reconciliation with a secular space of public reason. Liberalism as a political doctrine supposes that there are many conflicting and incommensurable conceptions of the good, each compatible with the full rationality of human persons, so far as we can ascertain within a workable political conception of justice (Rawls, 1985: 248).
Palgrave MacMillan, 2018
Reviving the ancient political wisdom of St. Augustine in combination with insights drawn from co... more Reviving the ancient political wisdom of St. Augustine in combination with insights drawn from contemporary political theorist John Rawls, Joseph Rivera grapples with the polarizing nature of religion in the public square. Political theology, as a discipline, tends to argue that communitarianism remains the only viable political option for religious practioners in a complex, pluralist society. Unsurprisingly, we are increasingly accustomed to think the religious voice is anti-secular and illiberal. On the contrary, Christian theology and political liberalism, Rivera argues, are not incompatible. Political Theology and Pluralism challenges the longstanding antithesis between theology and political liberalism by asking his readers to focus not on difference, but on our common humanity. Outlining real strategies for public dialogue in a liberal state, Rivera offers the opportunity to discover what it means to practice civic friendship in pluralist context.
Modern Theology, 2020
There are number of contemporary genealogical accounts of the "modern self" that trace its advers... more There are number of contemporary genealogical accounts of the "modern self" that trace its adverse cultural consequences. The Cartesian quest for pure autonomy remains a principal culprit, the origin, so to speak, of many of our Western ills: the anaemic psychology of loneliness, dys-functional individualism, and selfishness. Nominalism, too, draws attention in these accounts, especially in its Lutheran incarnation formulated in the wake of the Reformation (John Milbank, Charles Taylor, Brad Gregory, Rémi Brague, etc.). In these genealogies, a fundamental conclusion is drawn: the human condition is alienated from God and dissolves before the acid of a powerful and pervasive mathesis universalis. Mathematical efficiency, scientific rationality, and the technocratic economic progress of industrial capitalism, each reconfiguring the self wholly according to the logic of immanence. Well-worn genealogical stories urge us to move away from scientific reductionism to a more holistic understanding of the self, proposed as an anthropologi-cal salve. The self, it is argued, is spiritual and elusive, and is therefore impermeable to statistical analysis or objective measurement; obvious examples of holism would be Husserl's Crisis of European Sciences and Michel Henry's Barbarism (they both blame Galileo in particular for the emergence of a mathesis universalis), and more recently, Rémi Brague's several volumes on the cultural analysis, culminating in his The Kingdom of Man: Genesis and the Failure of the Modern Project. Other modes of scholarship recast the post-Cartesian narrative as a forlorn political tragedy, one underwritten by bare hubris. The underlying medium of selfish egoism remains consistent, but the spectacle of critique sets upon liberal democracy. The authors here are too many to name and the literature too diverse to capture. We can behold the mood of this critique, however, in two recent books, both penned by widely-read political commentators: Francis Fukuyama and Patrick Deneen. 1 Each book, prospective readers should know, communicate in accessible prose a freewheeling interpretation of the contemporary political landscape; both are designed for a more popular, crossover readership. Several movements in their respective narratives will take liberties with academic precision, though the footnotes are generally valuable, even if they could be
Journal of Nationalism, Memory, and Language Politics, 2019
Focusing on the topic of public dialogue between religiously theistic, quasi-religious, atheistic... more Focusing on the topic of public dialogue between religiously theistic, quasi-religious, atheistic, and non-religious citizens in a liberal democracy, this paper develops a practical strategy of dialogue in the wake of Rawls' Political Liberalism (1993). To set the stage for a rereading of Rawls, the chief points of liberal citizenship are outlined in critical dialogue with recent literature that urges citizens to abandon liberalism. While metaphysics, religious norms, and moral visions of the good are not bracketed by liberal regimes, it is true that liberal states nonetheless attempt to remain neutral in matters of religion and worship. This may yield many worldviews incommensurable with each other. Liberalism, then, as a political order, involves a pluralism of worldviews, some religious and some not. A hermeneutics of public dialogue can enable citizens to be reconciled with, rather than escape, the pluralism born of liberalism. I suggest the point of departure for such a hermeneutic lies in the vocabulary of Rawlsian "overlapping consensus." Reconsidered in this light, overlapping consensus can open up the prospect of dialogue among citizenry in the public square in a manner that facilitates agreement and cooperation. This is due to the fact that overlapping consensus contrasts with the idea that when one converges on a policy, one must always do so for the same reason or theoretical justification. The paper concludes with the structure of a four-way dialogue that may result from the application of this hermeneutic. Keywords hermeneutics; liberalism; political constructivism; public dialogue; Rawls Within itself the political conception does without the concept of truth... Once we accept the fact that reasonable pluralism is a permanent condition of public culture under free institutions. Holding a political conception as true, and for that reason alone the one suitable basis of public reason, is exclusive, even sectarian, and so like to foster political division.-John Rawls (1995, 94, 129).
Religions (MDPI), 2019
John Rawls' well-known device of representation (his terminology) that he names the "original pos... more John Rawls' well-known device of representation (his terminology) that he names the "original position" is put into play by the veil of ignorance. This imaginative device, found in both his early and late works, is often dismissed because it is misunderstood as an exercise in moral geometry. This essay discusses in more detail the subjective mechanics of the original position; while sympathetic of Rawls' application of the veil of ignorance, I distinguish between a thick and thin veil, whereby I promote the latter. The final section makes a connection between the simulation of the original position and the religious practice of asceticism.
Systematic Theology and Philosophy by Joseph Rivera
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 2017
Kathryn Tanner's recent work rehabilitates the decades-long debate concerning the supernatural, i... more Kathryn Tanner's recent work rehabilitates the decades-long debate concerning the supernatural, in which the church fathers feature as principal interlocutors. It is her particular ressourcement of Gregory of Nyssa that I want to consider and contest, especially her interpretation of his understanding of human nature as wholly apophatic, or "plastic". Tanner's self-described "apophatic" anthropology consists of a critique of naturalism, opening the way for her to posit an expansive supernaturalism that makes grace intrinsic to human nature. I offer an alternative reading of Gregory to show that a theological naturalism may obtain, namely, that human nature has integrity and autonomy of its own, even if it also may exceed its economy of finitude in pursuit of grace that is wholly other. Zusammenfassung: Kathryn Tanners jüngste Arbeit rehabilitiert die jahrzehnte-lange Debatte über das Übernatürliche, in welcher die Kirchenväter als Hauptge-sprächspartner erscheinen. Es ist ihr spezielles ressourcement von Gregor von Nyssa, das ich betrachten und in Frage stellen möchte, insbesondere ihre Interpretation seines Verständnisses der menschlichen Natur als vollständig apopha-tisch oder auch "plastisch". Tanners programmatisch vertretene apophatische Anthropologie besteht aus einer Kritik des Naturalismus, die ihr den Weg öffnet, um einen expansiven Supernaturalismus zu behaupten, der Gnade als der mens-chlichen Natur intrinsisch annimmt. Ich biete eine alternative Interpretation von Gregor an, um zu zeigen, dass ein theologischer Naturalismus möglicherweise die Integrität und Autonomie der menschlichen Natur zu erhalten vermag, sogar wenn sie ihre Ökonomie der Endlichkeit in ihrem Streben nach Gnade des ganz Anderen überschreitet.
European Journal of Science and Theology, 2019
Augustine"s exploration of memory remains fertile even today, not only for philosophical analyses... more Augustine"s exploration of memory remains fertile even today, not only for philosophical analyses of time but for the disciplines of Cognitive science and Experimental psychology as well. The article brings to light specific ways Augustine"s richly narrative account of memory in the "Confessions" books X and XI anticipates and challenges recent research on memory in the scientific literature. Augustine"s relevance lays in his claims that memory involves not just the function of an "offline archive" of past data but also the organic activity of a dynamic system that enables the embodied mind to anticipate the future.
Papers by Joseph Rivera
Phenomenology and the Horizon of Experience, 2021
Research in Phenomenology, 2019
The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcendental subjecti... more The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcendental subjectivity in the later work of Edmund Husserl, especially the Cartesian Meditations and the Crisis, and in the strictly phenomenological work of Michel Henry, especially Material Phenomenology; (2) to highlight Henry’s radical critique of Husserlian intersubjectivity and show that such critique, while valuable in its intention, is ultimately misguided because it neglects the important contribution Husserl’s complicated vocabulary of lifeworld makes to the study of intersubjectivity; and (3) to point toward a phenomenological conception of intersubjective practice we may call the realm of we-synthesis that prioritizes the first-person perspective rooted in empathy, which enables meaningful engagement with the second-person perspective. Working in conjunction with Husserl and Henry on the phenomenological conception of shared life enables the recuperation of the fragile line between subjectivit...
Phenomenology, Givenness, Mystery: Dilating Subjectivity, 2023
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
This book explores the threshold between phenomenology and lived religion in dialogue with three ... more This book explores the threshold between phenomenology and lived religion in dialogue with three French luminaries: Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, and Jean-Yves Lacoste. Through close reading and critical analysis, each chapter touches on how a liturgical and ritual setting or a spiritual vision of the body can shape and ultimately structure the experience of an individual's surrounding world. The volume advances debate about the scope and limits of the phenomenological analysis of religious themes and disturbs the assumption that theology and phenomenology are incapable of constructive interdisciplinary dialogue.
Notre Dame University Press, 2015
This is my first monograph on Michel Henry, which includes long sections on Augustine, some mater... more This is my first monograph on Michel Henry, which includes long sections on Augustine, some material on Descartes, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, and Didier Franck.
Research in Phenomenology, 2019
The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcenden-tal subject... more The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcenden-tal subjectivity in the later work of Edmund Husserl, especially the Cartesian Meditations and the Crisis, and in the strictly phenomenological work of Michel Henry, especially Material Phenomenology; (2) to highlight Henry's radical critique of Husser-lian intersubjectivity and show that such critique, while valuable in its intention, is ultimately misguided because it neglects the important contribution Husserl's complicated vocabulary of lifeworld makes to the study of intersubjectivity; and (3) to point toward a phenomenological conception of intersubjective practice we may call the realm of we-synthesis that prioritizes the first-person perspective rooted in em-pathy, which enables meaningful engagement with the second-person perspective. Working in conjunction with Husserl and Henry on the phenomenological conception of shared life enables the recuperation of the fragile line between subjectivity and intersubjectivity.
Philosophy Compass, 2018
This article discusses the theoretical issues and findings of a recent trend in phenomenology of ... more This article discusses the theoretical issues and findings of a recent trend in phenomenology of religion: the manifestation of the Trinity. Section one highlights the classical model of the Trinity as mystery. The Trinity is as an elusive phenomenon that can be grasped only as an article of faith. Section two outlines important features of manifestation and experience in Husserl's phenomenology, which lays the conceptual groundwork for the phenomenology of religion. Section three discusses two proposals of a phenomenology of the Trinity, in which faith can be understood as an intentional stance that may make possible the Trinity's manifestation as a subjective phenomenon. The conclusion locates the principal weakness of the phenomenology of the Trinity in the proponents' tendency to ignore doctrinal development and theological debate, especially of the fourth and fifth-centuries, which gave shape to the Trinity as a doctrine as such.
Theological Studies, 2016
Recent post-metaphysical trends in contemporary theology seek to overcome "metaphysics," in order... more Recent post-metaphysical trends in contemporary theology seek to overcome "metaphysics," in order to free God-language from the trappings of onto-theology. This means that theology prioritizes the conventional discourse of the church over the universal ambitions of metaphysical language. This article offers a corrective to the "post-metaphysical" corrective by proposing a broader definition of metaphysics, one rooted in concrete experience. In this regard I constructively consider Jean-Yves Lacoste's "conceptual rescue operation" metaphysics in his wide-ranging Etre en danger (201 I)
Philosophy Today, 2018
The theological turn in phenomenology continues to generate cross-disciplinary discussion among p... more The theological turn in phenomenology continues to generate cross-disciplinary discussion among philosophers and theologians concerning the scope and boundaries of counts as a "phenomenon. " This essay suggests that the very idea of the given, a term so important for Husserl, Heidegger, Henry and Marion, can be reassessed from the point of view of Wilifred Sellars's discussion of the myth of the "immediate" given. Sometimes phenomenology is understood to involve the skill of unveiling immediate data that appear as "phenomena" to a conscious and wakeful ego. In conversation with Jean-Luc Marion's volume Givenness and Revelation, I challenge the assumption that phenomena are immediate in their givenness. The final remarks concern the "how" of the givenness of theological data, and in particular, the phenomenon of the Trinity.
Modern Theology, 2013
The first person who sensed profoundly the enormous difficulties inherent in this analysis, and w... more The first person who sensed profoundly the enormous difficulties inherent in this analysis, and who struggled with it almost to despair, was Augustine. Even today, anyone occupied with the problem of time must still study . . . the Confessions thoroughly. 1 -Edmund Husserl
International Journal of Systematic Theology , 2012
While usually denoting the church and/or the sacrament of the Eucharist, the 'mystical body of Ch... more While usually denoting the church and/or the sacrament of the Eucharist, the 'mystical body of Christ' has become a theological grammar for Catholic phenomenologists Michel Henry, Jean-Yves Lacoste and Jean-Luc Marion to think through the possibility of religious experience. This article traces out some of the richly detailed accounts of religious experience proffered by Henry, Lacoste and Marion, paying heed to how they narrate the non-worldly, invisible disclosure of that religious experiencing. The final section outlines a deeper integration of the three by highlighting the need for an encounter with Christ to be both non-worldly and worldly, between presence and absence, and thus an experience that is concrete, lived, but also mediated by the visible church.
Continental Philosophy Review, 2015
An article of Michel Henry's that I co-translated. It is a classic statement of Henry's emphasis ... more An article of Michel Henry's that I co-translated. It is a classic statement of Henry's emphasis on auto-affection as the fundamental ground of phenomenological analysis.
Religious Reasons and Public Reason: Recalibrating Ireland's Benevolent Secularism, 2020
Liberal regimes in the West are not homogeneous in their application of secular principles. What ... more Liberal regimes in the West are not homogeneous in their application of secular principles. What kind of "secular" state a particular government promotes depends in large part on the strength and influence of the majority religion in that region. This article acknowledges the heuristic value of a recent threefold taxonomy of secularism: passive, assertive, and benevolent forms of secularism. I take issue with and challenge certain institutional privileges granted to the majority religion in one benevolently secular regime, the Republic of Ireland. I consider how benevolent secularism, while remaining benevolent toward religion, can align its application of secularism in the arena of publicly-funded education (primary and secondary education). A politically liberal regime, defined by the idea of public reason, invokes the principle of publicity, namely, that discourse and public policy be intelligible (and acceptable to a large degree) not only to an individual's religious or moral community but also to the broader collection of members who constitute a liberal state. Drawing on John Rawls' conception of public reason, and using Ireland as a case study, I show how this particular state-religion interrelation can be recalibrated in order to increase the prospects of reconciliation with a secular space of public reason. Liberalism as a political doctrine supposes that there are many conflicting and incommensurable conceptions of the good, each compatible with the full rationality of human persons, so far as we can ascertain within a workable political conception of justice (Rawls, 1985: 248).
Palgrave MacMillan, 2018
Reviving the ancient political wisdom of St. Augustine in combination with insights drawn from co... more Reviving the ancient political wisdom of St. Augustine in combination with insights drawn from contemporary political theorist John Rawls, Joseph Rivera grapples with the polarizing nature of religion in the public square. Political theology, as a discipline, tends to argue that communitarianism remains the only viable political option for religious practioners in a complex, pluralist society. Unsurprisingly, we are increasingly accustomed to think the religious voice is anti-secular and illiberal. On the contrary, Christian theology and political liberalism, Rivera argues, are not incompatible. Political Theology and Pluralism challenges the longstanding antithesis between theology and political liberalism by asking his readers to focus not on difference, but on our common humanity. Outlining real strategies for public dialogue in a liberal state, Rivera offers the opportunity to discover what it means to practice civic friendship in pluralist context.
Modern Theology, 2020
There are number of contemporary genealogical accounts of the "modern self" that trace its advers... more There are number of contemporary genealogical accounts of the "modern self" that trace its adverse cultural consequences. The Cartesian quest for pure autonomy remains a principal culprit, the origin, so to speak, of many of our Western ills: the anaemic psychology of loneliness, dys-functional individualism, and selfishness. Nominalism, too, draws attention in these accounts, especially in its Lutheran incarnation formulated in the wake of the Reformation (John Milbank, Charles Taylor, Brad Gregory, Rémi Brague, etc.). In these genealogies, a fundamental conclusion is drawn: the human condition is alienated from God and dissolves before the acid of a powerful and pervasive mathesis universalis. Mathematical efficiency, scientific rationality, and the technocratic economic progress of industrial capitalism, each reconfiguring the self wholly according to the logic of immanence. Well-worn genealogical stories urge us to move away from scientific reductionism to a more holistic understanding of the self, proposed as an anthropologi-cal salve. The self, it is argued, is spiritual and elusive, and is therefore impermeable to statistical analysis or objective measurement; obvious examples of holism would be Husserl's Crisis of European Sciences and Michel Henry's Barbarism (they both blame Galileo in particular for the emergence of a mathesis universalis), and more recently, Rémi Brague's several volumes on the cultural analysis, culminating in his The Kingdom of Man: Genesis and the Failure of the Modern Project. Other modes of scholarship recast the post-Cartesian narrative as a forlorn political tragedy, one underwritten by bare hubris. The underlying medium of selfish egoism remains consistent, but the spectacle of critique sets upon liberal democracy. The authors here are too many to name and the literature too diverse to capture. We can behold the mood of this critique, however, in two recent books, both penned by widely-read political commentators: Francis Fukuyama and Patrick Deneen. 1 Each book, prospective readers should know, communicate in accessible prose a freewheeling interpretation of the contemporary political landscape; both are designed for a more popular, crossover readership. Several movements in their respective narratives will take liberties with academic precision, though the footnotes are generally valuable, even if they could be
Journal of Nationalism, Memory, and Language Politics, 2019
Focusing on the topic of public dialogue between religiously theistic, quasi-religious, atheistic... more Focusing on the topic of public dialogue between religiously theistic, quasi-religious, atheistic, and non-religious citizens in a liberal democracy, this paper develops a practical strategy of dialogue in the wake of Rawls' Political Liberalism (1993). To set the stage for a rereading of Rawls, the chief points of liberal citizenship are outlined in critical dialogue with recent literature that urges citizens to abandon liberalism. While metaphysics, religious norms, and moral visions of the good are not bracketed by liberal regimes, it is true that liberal states nonetheless attempt to remain neutral in matters of religion and worship. This may yield many worldviews incommensurable with each other. Liberalism, then, as a political order, involves a pluralism of worldviews, some religious and some not. A hermeneutics of public dialogue can enable citizens to be reconciled with, rather than escape, the pluralism born of liberalism. I suggest the point of departure for such a hermeneutic lies in the vocabulary of Rawlsian "overlapping consensus." Reconsidered in this light, overlapping consensus can open up the prospect of dialogue among citizenry in the public square in a manner that facilitates agreement and cooperation. This is due to the fact that overlapping consensus contrasts with the idea that when one converges on a policy, one must always do so for the same reason or theoretical justification. The paper concludes with the structure of a four-way dialogue that may result from the application of this hermeneutic. Keywords hermeneutics; liberalism; political constructivism; public dialogue; Rawls Within itself the political conception does without the concept of truth... Once we accept the fact that reasonable pluralism is a permanent condition of public culture under free institutions. Holding a political conception as true, and for that reason alone the one suitable basis of public reason, is exclusive, even sectarian, and so like to foster political division.-John Rawls (1995, 94, 129).
Religions (MDPI), 2019
John Rawls' well-known device of representation (his terminology) that he names the "original pos... more John Rawls' well-known device of representation (his terminology) that he names the "original position" is put into play by the veil of ignorance. This imaginative device, found in both his early and late works, is often dismissed because it is misunderstood as an exercise in moral geometry. This essay discusses in more detail the subjective mechanics of the original position; while sympathetic of Rawls' application of the veil of ignorance, I distinguish between a thick and thin veil, whereby I promote the latter. The final section makes a connection between the simulation of the original position and the religious practice of asceticism.
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 2017
Kathryn Tanner's recent work rehabilitates the decades-long debate concerning the supernatural, i... more Kathryn Tanner's recent work rehabilitates the decades-long debate concerning the supernatural, in which the church fathers feature as principal interlocutors. It is her particular ressourcement of Gregory of Nyssa that I want to consider and contest, especially her interpretation of his understanding of human nature as wholly apophatic, or "plastic". Tanner's self-described "apophatic" anthropology consists of a critique of naturalism, opening the way for her to posit an expansive supernaturalism that makes grace intrinsic to human nature. I offer an alternative reading of Gregory to show that a theological naturalism may obtain, namely, that human nature has integrity and autonomy of its own, even if it also may exceed its economy of finitude in pursuit of grace that is wholly other. Zusammenfassung: Kathryn Tanners jüngste Arbeit rehabilitiert die jahrzehnte-lange Debatte über das Übernatürliche, in welcher die Kirchenväter als Hauptge-sprächspartner erscheinen. Es ist ihr spezielles ressourcement von Gregor von Nyssa, das ich betrachten und in Frage stellen möchte, insbesondere ihre Interpretation seines Verständnisses der menschlichen Natur als vollständig apopha-tisch oder auch "plastisch". Tanners programmatisch vertretene apophatische Anthropologie besteht aus einer Kritik des Naturalismus, die ihr den Weg öffnet, um einen expansiven Supernaturalismus zu behaupten, der Gnade als der mens-chlichen Natur intrinsisch annimmt. Ich biete eine alternative Interpretation von Gregor an, um zu zeigen, dass ein theologischer Naturalismus möglicherweise die Integrität und Autonomie der menschlichen Natur zu erhalten vermag, sogar wenn sie ihre Ökonomie der Endlichkeit in ihrem Streben nach Gnade des ganz Anderen überschreitet.
European Journal of Science and Theology, 2019
Augustine"s exploration of memory remains fertile even today, not only for philosophical analyses... more Augustine"s exploration of memory remains fertile even today, not only for philosophical analyses of time but for the disciplines of Cognitive science and Experimental psychology as well. The article brings to light specific ways Augustine"s richly narrative account of memory in the "Confessions" books X and XI anticipates and challenges recent research on memory in the scientific literature. Augustine"s relevance lays in his claims that memory involves not just the function of an "offline archive" of past data but also the organic activity of a dynamic system that enables the embodied mind to anticipate the future.
Phenomenology and the Horizon of Experience, 2021
Research in Phenomenology, 2019
The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcendental subjecti... more The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) To show the basic contours of transcendental subjectivity in the later work of Edmund Husserl, especially the Cartesian Meditations and the Crisis, and in the strictly phenomenological work of Michel Henry, especially Material Phenomenology; (2) to highlight Henry’s radical critique of Husserlian intersubjectivity and show that such critique, while valuable in its intention, is ultimately misguided because it neglects the important contribution Husserl’s complicated vocabulary of lifeworld makes to the study of intersubjectivity; and (3) to point toward a phenomenological conception of intersubjective practice we may call the realm of we-synthesis that prioritizes the first-person perspective rooted in empathy, which enables meaningful engagement with the second-person perspective. Working in conjunction with Husserl and Henry on the phenomenological conception of shared life enables the recuperation of the fragile line between subjectivit...
Religions
Phenomenology and theology continue to induce interdisciplinary analysis of selfhood and spiritua... 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.
The Heythrop Journal, 2015
Modern Theology, 2012
This article examines the phenomenological structures of the homo temporalis filtered through Aug... more This article examines the phenomenological structures of the homo temporalis filtered through Augustine's illuminating, if unsystematic, insights on temporality and the imago Dei. It situates such a phenomenological interpretation of the Augustinian self in view of current interpretations that polarize or split the Augustinian self into an either/or scheme—either an “interior” self or an “exterior” self. Given this imbalance, the article suggests that a phenomenological evaluation of Augustine brings to light how interior and exterior spheres are deeply integrated. The article elaborates this position by contending that the self's temporal streaming within the exterior world-horizon is inescapable because it reflects basic constituents of a self created by God which is nevertheless capable of contemplating a God who transcends time. This seeming paradox is resolved by recourse to what is described as the “double entry” of the self. The temporal streaming of the self in the world-horizon (entry one) is porous to the eternal inwardly (entry two); the eternal entry is thus interior and analyzable in terms of a non-reflective self-awareness on display in Augustine's De Trinitate; and finally Augustine's understanding of the temporality of faith indicates how the self of faith can be lived in light of Heidegger's emphasis on the future and Husserl's emphasis on the past.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2012
While usually denoting the church and/or the sacrament of the Eucharist, the ‘mystical body of Ch... more While usually denoting the church and/or the sacrament of the Eucharist, the ‘mystical body of Christ’ has become a theological grammar for Catholic phenomenologists Michel Henry, Jean-Yves Lacoste and Jean-Luc Marion to think through the possibility of religious experience. This article traces out some of the richly detailed accounts of religious experience proffered by Henry, Lacoste and Marion, paying heed to how they narrate the non-worldly, invisible disclosure of that religious experiencing. The final section outlines a deeper integration of the three by highlighting the need for an encounter with Christ to be both non-worldly and worldly, between presence and absence, and thus an experience that is concrete, lived, but also mediated by the visible church.
Literature and Theology, 2009
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics, 2019
Focusing on the topic of public dialogue between religiously theistic, quasi-religious, atheistic... more Focusing on the topic of public dialogue between religiously theistic, quasi-religious, atheistic, and non-religious citizens in a liberal democracy, this paper develops a practical strategy of dialogue in the wake of Rawls’ Political Liberalism (1993). To set the stage for a rereading of Rawls, the chief points of liberal citizenship are outlined in critical dialogue with recent literature that urges citizens to abandon liberalism. While metaphysics, religious norms, and moral visions of the good are not bracketed by liberal regimes, it is true that liberal states nonetheless attempt to remain neutral in matters of religion and worship. This may yield many worldviews incommensurable with each other. Liberalism, then, as a political order, involves a pluralism of worldviews, some religious and some not. A hermeneutics of public dialogue can enable citizens to be reconciled with, rather than escape, the pluralism born of liberalism. I suggest the point of departure for such a hermene...
Religions, 2019
John Rawls’ well-known device of representation (his terminology) that he names the “original pos... more John Rawls’ well-known device of representation (his terminology) that he names the “original position” is put into play by the veil of ignorance. This imaginative device, found in both his early and late works, is often dismissed because it is misunderstood as an exercise in moral geometry. This essay discusses in more detail the subjective mechanics of the original position; while sympathetic of Rawls’ application of the veil of ignorance, I distinguish between a thick and thin veil, whereby I promote the latter. The final section makes a connection between the simulation of the original position and the religious practice of asceticism.
Augustine‟s exploration of memory remains fertile even today, not only for philosophical analyses... more Augustine‟s exploration of memory remains fertile even today, not only for philosophical analyses of time but for the disciplines of Cognitive science and Experimental psychology as well. The article brings to light specific ways Augustine‟s richly narrative account of memory in the „Confessions‟ books X and XI anticipates and challenges recent research on memory in the scientific literature. Augustine‟s relevance lays in his claims that memory involves not just the function of an „offline archive‟ of past data but also the organic activity of a dynamic system that enables the embodied mind to anticipate the future.
Review of European Studies, 2020
Liberal regimes in the West are not homogeneous in their application of secular principles. What ... more Liberal regimes in the West are not homogeneous in their application of secular principles. What kind of “secular” state a particular government promotes depends in large part on the strength and influence of the majority religion in that region. This article acknowledges the heuristic value of a recent threefold taxonomy of secularism: passive, assertive, and benevolent forms of secularism. I take issue with and challenge certain institutional privileges granted to the majority religion in one benevolently secular regime, the Republic of Ireland. I consider how benevolent secularism, while remaining benevolent toward religion, can align its application of secularism in the arena of publicly-funded education (primary and secondary education). A politically liberal regime, defined by the idea of public reason, invokes the principle of publicity, namely, that discourse and public policy be intelligible (and acceptable to a large degree) not only to an individual’s religious or moral c...
Religions, 2021
Christianity, a spirituality of dwelling critically in the world, is seen by some in late moderni... more Christianity, a spirituality of dwelling critically in the world, is seen by some in late modernity to foster an otherworldly attitude, and thus to cultivate a spirituality at odds with modern identity. Especially in the wake of Nietzsche’s condemnation of Christianity on the grounds of its ascetic abandonment of the world, some have contended that Christianity may never have overcome its early conflict with Gnosticism. Hans Blumenberg’s Legitimacy of the Modern Age continues to be read widely. Critics of modernity often avoid confronting the book’s lengthy endorsement of modernity in light of his critique of Augustine’s critique of curiositas. A central aim of this essay is to complicate Blumenberg’s influential thesis about Augustine’s supposed repudiation of “theoretical curiosity” that funded early modern science and inaugurated the modern epoch of self-assertion.
Political Theology, or the Formations of Pluralism
The need for political theology to refine its scope, and—ultimately—to arrive at a place where it... more The need for political theology to refine its scope, and—ultimately—to arrive at a place where it might enjoy full ownership over its public voice, grows more urgent by the moment in our fraught globalized climate [...]