God and the Caducity of Being: Jean-Luc Marion and Edith Stein on Thinking God
ABSTRACT: Jean-Luc Marion claims that God must no longer be thought of in terms of the traditional metaphysical category of Being, for that reduces God to an all too human concept which he calls "Dieu." God must be conceived outside of the ontological difference and outside of the question of Being itself. Marion urges us to think of God as love. We wish to challenge Marion’s claim of the necessity to move au-delà de l’être by arguing that Marion presents a very limited understanding of Being: he interprets the Being of God as causa sui. The thought of Edith Stein will be employed in order to bring out a fuller sense of the metaphysical notion of the Being of God. Stein offers us a rich backdrop against which we can interpret more traditional readings of God as Being, thereby challenging Marion’s claim of the caducity of Being.
Traditionally, metaphysics was viewed as consisting of three distinct but related components: cosmology, ontology and theology. Cosmology dealt with the being of the natural world conceived as a universe whereas ontology dealt with the being of the particular thing in the cosmos qua its own being. Theology was the investigation of the being of God naturaliter, that is, without exclusively appealing to the truths of Revelation. In his masterful work, God Without Being, Jean-Luc Marion launches a profound challenge to the tradition of metaphysics in general, and more specifically, to the related field of metaphysical theology. Marion claims that God must no longer be thought of in terms of the traditional category "Being", for that reduces God to an all too human concept which he calls "Dieu". In a sense, a violence is done to God and our understanding of God, for we seriously delimit that which by nature is indeterminable. Drawing upon an Heideggerian-inspired notion of the phenomenological Destruktion, Marion maintains that God must be thought outside the ontological difference and outside the very question of Being itself. In so doing, we free ourselves from an idolatry wherein we reduce God to our own all too narrow conceptual schemes. Marion urges us to think God in light of St. John’s pronouncement that "God is love" (1 Jn 4,8). He believes that love has not been thought through in the metaphysical tradition. Thinking ‘love’ through will lead the philosopher to a more accurate understanding of God as unlimited giver/gift.
Starting in his younger years, Edwards struggled with accepting the Calvinist sovereignty of God. Various circumstances throughout Edward’s own personal life led to him later believing in the sovereignty of God. Jonathan Edwards is known greatly as a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s. Fleeing from his grandfather’s original perspective by not continuing his practice of open communion, there was a struggle to maintain that relationship. Edward’s believed that physical objects are only collections of sensible ideas, which gives good reasoning for his strong religious belief system.
INTRODUCTION The medieval theologian Julian of Norwich was a mystic, writer, anchoress and spiritual director for her time. She is gaining in popularity for our time as she provides a spiritual template for contemplative prayer and practice in her compilation of writings found in Revelations of Divine Love. The insightful meditations provide the backdrop and basis for her Trinitarian theology’s embrace of God’s
8- McDermid, Douglas. "God's Existence." PHIL 1000H-B Lecture 9. Trent University, Peterborough. 21 Nov. 2013. Lecture.
In 2002, Doctor Armand Nicholi, Jr. sought to put two of the greatest minds of the 20th century together to debate the answer to the lifelong question, “Is there a God, and if so, how should we respond to his existence?” Nicholi is the first scholar to ever put the arguments of C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud side by side in an attempt to recreate as realistic of a debate as possible between the two men. He examines their writings, letters, and lectures in an attempt to accurately represent both men in this debate. His result, the nearly 300 page book, The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life, is one of the most comprehensive, well researched, and unbiased summaries of the debate between the worldviews of “believer and unbeliever” (Pg. 5).
The Ontological Argument, which argues from a definition of God’s being to his existence, is the first type of argument we are going to examine. Since this argument was founded by Saint Anslem, we will be examining his writings. Saint Anslem starts by defining God as an all-perfect being, or rather as a being containing all conceivable perfections. Now if in addition of possessing all conceivable perfections t...
...ossible as the new ideology considered it a form of profiteering. Collectivisation of land meant that agricultural day-labour also became impossible for most Gypsies. In spite of the fact that before the war a quarter of agricultural day-labourers were Gypsies, and as such would have had a right to land, they were left out of the 1945 land reform. In the new era Gypsies were officially considered citizens with rights equal to anyone else’s. Paradoxically the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party introduced a resolution in 1961 on the ‘Gypsy problem’, considering that their situation was worse than at the end of the 19th century. According to this resolution Gypsies cannot be considered a national minority (just as in other Eastern European countries), because they do not meet the criteria for being a ‘nationality’ – lacking a motherland, a common language and history.
Smith, Andrew. "Chapter Nine: Life After Death." 2014. A Secular View of God. 12 May 2014 .
"Animal-Assisted Therapy." Animal Assisted Therapy, Exploring the Therapeutic Link between Animals and Humans. American Humane Association, 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .
In the field of therapy, there are numerous of therapy available out there for different type of individuals and situations as well. There is one type of therapy that usually contains people and animal, it is animal-assisted therapy is a therapeutic approach that brings animals and individuals with physical and/or emotional needs together to perform the therapy. Animal-assisted therapy tend to be focused on individuals either children or elderly for them to be able to connect with the animal thus feeling comfortable talking with the therapist. Pet therapy works for all ages, whether sick or not (Lanchnit, 2011). Although, this paper, most of the focus is on animal-assisted therapy towards children using dogs.
“I am done with the monster of ‘We,’ the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood, and shame”(Rand 97). He expresses his emotion of the hatred in his thought of being one. He is now completely over the thought of himself and the greatness of it. “And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy peace and pride. This god, this one word: ‘I’”(Rand 97). He has completely became self-centered, and rejects and wants to forget about the past he had as men. The author finally reaches the point she has tried to make, and shows her philosophy of Objectivism through Equality’s thoughts and new transition from ‘we’ to ‘I’.
Who is God? This question has baffled learned theologians for centuries. We try to wrap our minds around the greatness and holiness that is God by studying the Scriptures and Catechisms, listening to spiritual talks, and by praying. But what about loving God? Sometimes, we get so caught up in trying to figure out who is God that we forget to love him. In The Cloud of Unknowing, the anonymous author proves that one can come to know God only through loving Him by exhibiting how thoughts can lead to sin, the dangers of intellect, and how God is perfect love.
The fundamental feature of substance, as expressed by Spinoza, is its independence. Spinoza defines God as a substance that is completely unbounded, or a substance "comprising of infinity of attributes", of which every one of them illustrates an in...
In 1996, songwriter Joan Osborne performed a song called "One of Us" that was nominated for three Grammy Awards. What made this song so successful and interesting were the powerful lyrics that basically asked, "What if God were a human being?" As she was writing the lyrics to "One of Us," she was wondering about God and how the world would be different if God did exist in real life and not just a supernatural force. You may be asking yourself, "What does this have to do with the seventeenth century?" Well, in the seventeenth century, there was a man, named Rene Descartes, who was interested in God and wondered about His existence. After an unforgettable night in November 10, 1619, his interest in God became stronger, and had developed many views that concerned or were about God. When he expressed his investigations of applying inductive methods of science and mathematics to philosophy by the "Cogito ero sum" (I think, therefore I am), he started to argue the existence of God by saying that God and science could co-exist, since he proved that he existed.
1) Oxford Readings in Philosophy. The Concept of God. New York: Oxford University press 1987
In God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love author Donald Bloesch provides a graduate level study of the attributes of God. He is clear in his approach of theology as being “a witness to God’s mighty deeds in a past history.” Dr. Bloesch, as a professor in theology, tends to use more of an academic approach in his writing, forcing the reader to slow down and carefully examine his text. He does not simplify the deep complexities of God, nor does he try to spoon feed the reader his own personal theology. Leaving room for personal interpretation, Dr. Bloesch provides a variety of perspectives. Those include presenting them through Hellenistic, literal theology, and other philosophical understandings. Overall the text proves itself to be effective in its elements but sometimes thick with words.