The Phenomenology of Revelation in Heidegger, Marion, and Ricoeur

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The Phenomenology of Revelation in Heidegger, Marion, and Ricoeur provides a critical framework for understanding the phenomenology of revelation through a series of close readings that serve as the basis for an imagined dialogue between Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Marion, and Paul Ricoeur. Adam J. Graves distinguishes between two dominant approaches to revelation: a radical approach that seeks to disclose a pre-linguistic experience of revelation through a radicalization of the phenomenological reduction, and a hermeneutical one that characterizes revelation as an eruption of meaning arising from our encounter with concrete symbols, narratives, and texts. According to Graves, the radical approach is often driven by a misplaced concern for maintaining philosophical rigor and for avoiding theological biases, or contaminations. This preoccupation leads to a process of counter-contamination in which the concept of revelation is ultimately estranged from the phenomenons rich historical and linguistic content. While Ricoeurs hermeneutic phenomenology may do a better job of accommodating the concrete content of revelation, it does so at the price of having to renouncing the kind of presuppositionlessness generally associated with phenomenological method. Ultimately, Graves argues that a more nuanced appreciation of the complex nature of our linguistic inheritance enables us to reconceive the relationship between revelation and philosophical thought.

Reviews

"Adam Gravess rigorous comparison of revelation in Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Marion, and Paul Ricoeur cogently shows that phenomenologys 'turn to theology' neither requires a return to primordial ontology nor calls for a retreat into the paradoxes of a prelinguistic givenness, but more simply and radically urges us to begin a long journey in the frequentation of mutually enriching symbols and narratives; only then can we grasp concretely how the Word can make the World."

"A groundbreaking work. In this highly compelling and provocative book, Adam Graves accomplishes what no serious thinker has done since Hegeldemonstrate decisively how the problem of 'revelation' is not just a theological sideshow but an integral problem for philosophy itself in the 21st century."

Author Bio

Adam J. Graves is professor of philosophy at Metropolitan State University of Denver.