Believing in Order to See - (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy) by Jean-Luc Marion (Paperback)

About the Book

A phenomenological reflection on central aspects of Christian revelation: the practice of faith, the obligation and role of the baptized Christian, the gift of the sacraments, the future of Catholicism, the role of the Christian intellectual, examined always in light of their inherent rationality and relationship to philosophical reason.

Book Synopsis

Faith and reason, especially in Roman Catholic thought, are less contradictory today than ever. But does the supposed opposition even make sense to begin with? One can lose faith, but surely not because one gains in reason. Some, in fact, lose faith when reason is not able to make sense of the experience of our lives. Yet, we actually lose reason by losing faith.

Examining such topics as the role of the intellectual in the church, the rationality of faith, the infinite worth and incomprehensibility of the human, the phenomenality of the sacraments, and the phenomenological nature of miracles and of revelation more broadly, this book spans the range of Marion's thought on Christianity. Throughout he stresses that faith has its own rationality, structured according to the logic of the gift that calls forth a response of love and devotion through kenotic abandon.

Review Quotes

Jean-Luc Marion is one of today's most pre-eminent philosophers of religion. The range of sources engaged, the detail of analytical rigor, and the profundity of insight--all are amply on display in this collection of essays spanning several decades of work. Newcomers to Marion's oeuvre, and those well acquainted with his work, will find in Believing in Order to See treasures to savor.-----Norman Wirzba, Duke Divinity School

About the Author

Jean-Luc Marion is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV, Dominique Dubarle Professor of Philosophy at the Institut catholique de Paris, Andrew T. Greely and Grace McNichols Greeley Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and a member of the Academie française.

Christina M. Gschwandtner is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University.