Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 19:32:26 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: phenomenology of religion Henk and Allen, I'm basically in agreement with Heidegger in his phenomenological description of Christian life. This might be trivially obvious since I'm a theologian who makes use of Heidegger theologically, but it seems worth mentioning to establish context. I work primarily in Biblical hermeneutics (and am preparing for the Anglican priesthood), but I have become more generally interested in phenomenology and philosophical hermeneutics in recent years. I'll be perusing GA60 when it becomes available to me. In the meantime, I wonder whether Heidegger much spells out an account of the nature of doctrine in this work, or whether he leaves this for the most part in hints and suggestive utterances. For instance, Henk expounds Heidegger thus: >In GA60:116:125 Heidegger describes how Paul's >letters are no longer about a doctrine (hae basileia >tou theou - Luc. 16:16) but about a way of life >(Rom 1:3; 10:9). Leaving aside Heidegger's questionable exegesis (that is, first century Jews did not tend to consider Torah [ho nomos kai hoi prophetai -- "the law and the prophets"] to be a matter of doctrine, but precisely the manner in which life might authentically be lived; Heidegger is simply not doing adequate Biblical exegesis here), one has to wonder just how restricted a role he is leaving doctrine. Is he dismissing it outright, as one might well imagine? (As Allen seems to imagine?) Or is he leaving it a real but subordinate role within a religious form of life which has non-objectifying presence before God as its overall teleology? In which case, traditional doctrine might be preserved intact and carry a certain normativity, but as an instrumental means for cultivating the form of life in question (something like the position in George Lindbeck's _The Nature of Doctrine_ which revolutionized theology a couple of years back; also closer to Jesus' and Paul's attitudes towards the law and the prophets as these are represented in the canonical NT. That is, Christianity is not about keeping the law and the prophets, but it inevitably keeps them -- Heidegger's NT citation continues "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped" and hardly endorses an antinomian or anti-doctrinal spirit). And, regardless of what Heidegger might say on this matter, what do you think about it, Allen and Henk? Of what value (if any) is doctrine to the cultivation of a religious way of life? If it is valuable, what makes it so? I waffle, but I think I'll bank on Lindbeck when all is said and done. If Allen were to bank on Mordecai Kaplan, would it be the same thing as to bank on Lindbeck? (and as to bank on Heidegger)? Paul of St. John's Towne (Johnston), Not an Apostle of Christ Jesus. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ --- from list heidegger-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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