FENOMENOLOGIE ȘI TEOLOGIE APOFATICĂ

Acest text analizează receptarea apofatismului Sf. Dionisie Pseudo-Areopagitul de către gândirea lui Jean-Luc Marion. Într-o dispută cu Jacques Derrida, care afirma că teologia negativă revine la afirmații după o trecere prin negații, Marion înțelege apofatismul dionisian la fel cum îl înțelege Tradiția Bisericii. Astfel, el afirmă că apofatismul este o a treia cale dincolo de afirmații și negații. După cum arată apologia lui Marion, influențele lui Dionisie asupra gândirii sale sunt vizibile în concepte precum "Dumnezeul fără ființă", distanța și fenomenul saturat. Mai mult, acest studiu argumentează în favoarea rolului omului în teologia apofatică. Datorită fenomenologiei radicale a donației, Marion răstoarnă intenționalitatea în contra-intenționalitate, experiența în contra-experiență și subiectul în adonat. În acest punct, subiectul/adonatul pare a nu avea niciun rol determinant pentru gnoseologia apofatică, deși Tradiția Bisericii a afirmat întotdeauna importanța credinței și virtuților pentru urcușul duhovnicesc. Soluția acestui text oferă o distincție între transcendentalul lui Kant și condițiile de posibilitate câștigate prin hermeneutică, asceză, liturghie și har dumnezeiesc. Adonatul nu are condiții de posibilitate kantiene și anterioare, dar poate crea unele din fenomenele saturate anterioare. Aceste "condiții" nu periclitează excesul saturației

How Does the Truth Appear?

Starting with Husserl"™s phenomenology and advancing to Jean-Luc Marion"™s and Jean-Yves Lacoste"™s phenomenology and to the revealed theology, this paper aims to answer the question: "œHow does the Truth appear?" Husserl"™s phenomenological reduction made the appearance of God, who remained in an absolute transcendence, impossible; but John"™s Gospel states that Christ is the Truth. We accept both of these opinions and offer the following answers: the religious phenomena, which have to do with a religious life and knowledge, could appear after one ignores or weakens the Husserlian epoché; God could appear if the phenomenological reduction became a reduction to givenness; the religious phenomena could appear after a theological counter-reduction, which separated itself from phenomenological rigor and belonged to theology. Keywords: Christ, Truth, transcendental reduction, phenomenological reduction, eidetic reduction, reduction to givenness, theological counter-reduction, faith, grace, God, transcendence, Edmund Husserl, Jean-Luc Marion &nbsp

PHENOMENOLOGY AND APOPHATIC THEOLOGY

This text analyses the reception of St Dionysius the Areopagite"™s apophaticism in Jean-Luc Marion"™s thought. After a dispute with Jacques Derrida, who claimed that negative theology returns to affirmations after having passed through negations, Marion reads Dionysius"™ apophaticism in the same way the Tradition of the Church did. Hence, he asserts that apophaticism is a third way, beyond affirmations and negations. As Marion"™s apology evolves, Dionysius"™ influences on his thought appear in concepts such as "œGod without being," distance, and saturated phenomenon. Furthermore, this study argues the role of the human being in apophatic theology. Because of his radical phenomenology of donation, Marion reverses intentionality in counter-intentionality, experience in counter-experience, and subject in adonné. From this point on, the subject/l"™adonné seems to have no determinative role for apophatic gnoseology, although Church Tradition always affirmed the importance of faith and virtues for spiritual ascent. The solution proposed in this text makes a distinction between Kant"™s transcendental and the conditions of possibility gained by hermeneutics, ascetics, liturgy, and divine grace. L"™adonné has no previous Kantian conditions of possibility; however, it can create some conditions of possibility from previous saturated phenomena. These "œconditions" do not jeopardize the excess of the saturation

Faith as Experience: A Theo-Phenomenological Approach

This text proposes an analysis of the phenomenon of faith in the tradition and spirituality of the Eastern Church. Starting from the relationship between phenomenology and theology, the article uses a theo-phenomenological method to depict the phenomenon of faith both theologically and phenomenologically. This article also argues that non-religious faith—either natural or philosophical—is the foundation of religious faith. According to Orthodox spirituality, faith is not reduced to a set of theoretical teachings and dogmas; they constitute only the first type of faith, “simple faith”. At the same time, faith is also a form of experience, which has ascetical, ethical, and mystical dimensions; they characterize the second type of faith, faith as contemplative sight and knowledge

Memento mori as Repetition of Finitude: Death beyond Heidegger and Levinas

Exemplified especially by Heidegger and Levinas, the phenomenology of death expresses first, the impossibility of the death experience, second, the authenticity of Dasein starting from the horizon opened by the possibility of death, and third, the relevance of the death of the other to the discovery of one’s own death. This article tries to take a step further, showing the link between the authenticity of Dasein and the desire for immortality manifested in this authenticity. By overturning Heidegger’s theses and by affirming both the necessity of an authentication of death itself—in accord with Socrates’s death example—and the legitimacy of the meditation on death, this text links the need for immortality, which is phenomenologically visible, with the Christian faith in the resurrection, which is visible only for theology

Faith as Experience

This text proposes an analysis of the phenomenon of faith in the tradition and spirituality of the Eastern Church. Starting from the relationship between phenomenology and theology, the article uses a theo-phenomenological method to depict the phenomenon of faith both theologically and phenomenologically. This article also argues that non-religious faith—either natural or philosophical—is the foundation of religious faith. According to Orthodox spirituality, faith is not reduced to a set of theoretical teachings and dogmas; they constitute only the first type of faith, “simple faith”. At the same time, faith is also a form of experience, which has ascetical, ethical, and mystical dimensions; they characterize the second type of faith, faith as contemplative sight and knowledge

The Absolute Discourse of Theology

This article first defines the absolute discourse, then discusses its possibility in theology, as well as the relationships between language, thought, and reality as they derive from the spirituality and life of the Eastern Church. Theology must face several problems—including the paradox of transcendence, the violence of metaphysics, onto-theology, and the duplicity of language itself—, but the Revelation of the Absolute itself legitimizes the theological discourse. By using both affirmations and negations, theology reveals an iconic structure of discourse that opens itself towards life and spirituality. The conclusion is that, in the absolute discourse of theology, words, even ineffable ones, are insufficient without life

Liturgy and Apophaticism

The Orthodox liturgy is a religious phenomenon that can be analyzed phenomenologically and theologically alike, given the emphasis that both phenomenology and Orthodox theology place on experience. By proposing the Kingdom of God instead of the natural world without being able to annihilate the latter in the name of the former, the liturgy seeks divine-human communion. Through the dialogue of prayer, through symbolic and iconic openings, as well as through apophatic theology, the liturgy emphasizes the horizon of mystery as a horizon essential to the way man positions himself before God. The present text attempts to demonstrate that apophaticism, understood as an experience of the mysterious presence of God, is one of the crucial dimensions of the Orthodox liturgy; and that this apophatic presence of God reveals a way of thinking which does not become onto-theology, not even when using concepts borrowed from metaphysics. The overcoming of onto-theology is achieved here not by abandoning concepts such as “being” and “cause” but by placing the language game in the field of prayer and apophatic theology