Christina M. Gschwandtner and Thomas Schärtl-Trendel
Project leaders:
Prof. Christina M. Gschwandtner (Fordham University)
Prof. Thomas Schärtl-Trendel (LMU Munich)
Title:
Non-propositional Concepts of Divine Revelation: Phenomenological and Hermeneutic Perspectives
Description:
The proposed project is a collaborative endeavour between an analytic/systematic theologian with expertise in religious epistemology and philosophical theology with that of a continental philosopher with expertise in phenomenology and hermeneutics of religion (especially Marion and Ricœur) to bring the resources of continental philosophy to bear on central theological questions, especially that of divine revelation as it is marked in human experience. Although some theologians have begun to draw on insights from Heidegger, critical theory, or contemporary French phenomenology, no sustained or systematic collaboration between these fields has really been undertaken so far.
There is next to no interaction between analytical and continental philosophy of religion: although even analytical philosophy of religion has in recent years turned to the epistemology of religious experience or even investigated Christian liturgical experience (e.g. Nicholas Wolterstorff, William Alston, Terence Cuneo, etc.), it entirely ignores the more than a half-century of research in the phenomenology of religious experience (Martin Heidegger, Hedwig Conrad-Martius, Gerda Walther, Paul Ricœur, Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Yves Lacoste, Michel Henry, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Emmanuel Falque, Anthony Steinbock, Natalie Depraz, Richard Kearney, etc.). The present project seeks to remedy this lack of collaboration by drawing on the resources of continental philosophy—especially in identifying, describing, and analysing phenomena of revelation—for theological purposes.
The two principal investigators will engage in joint research for a major book project combining, integrating, and furthering their respective expertise to employ philosophical tools for investigating religious experience in the Christian traditions (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant). They will also host several workshops, colloquia, and guest lectures at the supporting institutions (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany, and Fordham University, New York, USA) to inspire further collaboration, integration, and investigative, cross-disciplinary insights in this area and to cultivate younger scholars who will contribute further research to this emerging field.
Final report:
The project “Non-Propositional Concepts of Divine Revelation: Phenomenological and Hermeneutic Perspectives” was a collaborative endeavor between a systematic theologian with expertise in religious epistemology and philosophical theology and a continental philosopher with expertise in phenomenology and hermeneutics of religion. Its central aim was to bring resources stemming from continental philosophy to bear on central theological questions, especially that of divine revelation as it is marked in human experience and as it transforms human existence, and to cultivate younger scholars working at the intersection of those fields.
Project activities included two intensive workshops/seminars with junior scholars, three major international conferences, and a smaller conference colloquium, resulting in two interrelated monographs (authored by the principal investigators), one edited volume (Paul Ricoeur, Philosophical Hermeneutics, and the Question of Revelation), and three special journal issues, two of the Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift and one the Journal for Continental Philosophy of Religion. The project has already fostered a collaborative community of scholars across traditional disciplinary boundary lines and has successfully invested in the formation of younger scholars to contribute actively and collaboratively to the study of religious experience and the phenomena of revelation.
