- 253 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Christian philosophy and philosophy of religion tend to be dominated by analytic approaches, which have brought a valuable logical rigor to the discussion of matters of belief. However, the perspectives of continental philosophyâin particular, the continental emphasis on embodied forms of knowingâstill have much to offer to the conversation and our understanding of what it means to be both rational and faithful in a postmodern world.
The Nicene Option represents the full sweep of James K. A. Smith's work in continental philosophy of religion over the past twenty years. Animated by the conviction that a philosophy of religion needs to be philosophical reflection on the practice of religion, as a "form of life" (as Wittgenstein would say), this book makes the case for the distinct contribution that phenomenologyâas a philosophy of experienceâcan make to philosophy of religion and Christian philosophy. Engaging a range of philosophers in this tradition, including Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Luc Marion, Richard Rorty, and Charles Taylor, Smith's constructive proposal coheres around what he describes as "the logic of incarnation, " a "Nicene option" in contemporary philosophy of religion. By grounding philosophy of religion in the doctrinal heart of Christian confession, Smith gestures toward a uniquely robust Christian philosophy.
Besides issuing a clarion call for the renaissance of continental philosophy of religion, The Nicene Option also offers a glimpse behind the scholarly curtain for a wider audience of readers familiar with Smith's popular works such as Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?, Desiring the Kingdom, Imagining the Kingdom, and You Are What You Love âall of which are tacitly informed by the phenomenological approach articulated in this book. As an extended footnote to those worksâwhich for many readers have been gateways to philosophyâ The Nicene Option presents an invitation to a new depth of reflection.
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Notes
Introduction: God on the Left Bank?
Chapter 1. The Philosophy of Religion Takes Practice
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- I. Outline of an Incarnational Continental Philosophy of Religion
- II. Derrida, Marion, and the Possibility of a Christian Phenomenology
- Afterword
- Notes
- Author Index