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Introduction: Intersections of Revelation and Hermeneutics

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Part of the book series: Contributions to Hermeneutics ((CONT HERMEN,volume 7))

Abstract

This introductory chapter begins by contextualizing the volume with reference both to post-conciliar shifts in understanding divine revelation as God’s self-communication in Christ, and to tensions surrounding the Papacy of Francis and his affirmation of creativity in ecclesial renewal. The chapter explains the overarching theme to which the authors respond – namely, the intersection of revelation and hermeneutics – and proposes that, taken as a whole, the essays illustrate a dynamic movement in contemporary discourse on revelation. That movement begins with the problem of historically mediated transcendence and proceeds to reflection on the transformative power of this complex area of speech. The second part of this introductory chapter includes brief descriptions of each of the essays.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The material here is cited from the NCR article. For the text of Francis’s speech, see his Meeting with the Participants in the Fifth Convention of the Italian Catholic Church: Address of the Holy Father, accessed 18 Feb 2019: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/november/documents/papa-francesco_20151110_firenze-convegno-chiesa-italiana.html. The material of this address informs his more recent Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate: On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World, see the Vatican website, accessed 18 Feb 2019: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html

  2. 2.

    For example, see the discussion of saturated phenomena in Marion’s chapter and his reconfiguration of hermeneutics as radically phenomenological.

  3. 3.

    Translated by Sarah Horton for this volume, the essay was originally published in Reprise du Donné (Paris: PUF, 2016) 59–97.

  4. 4.

    Describing application as the fundamental hermeneutical problem, Gadamer discusses the problem of application in terms of the orientation of effective historical consciousness to a fusion of horizons, see Truth and Method, trans. and rev. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall (New York: Continuuum, 2000) 307.

References

  • Gaillardetz, Richard. 2016. ‘The Pastoral Orientation of Doctrine.’ In Go into the Streets! The Welcoming Church of Pope Francis, ed. P. Thomas, S.J. Rausch, and Richard R. Gaillardertz, 74–80. New York: Paulist Press.

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  • Hart, Kevin. 2003. 'The Experience of Nonexperience.' In Mystics: Presence and Aporia, ed. Michael Kessler and Christian Sheppard, 188–206. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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  • Marion, Jean-Luc. 1991. God Without Being, 158. Trans. Thomas A. Carlson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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  • ———. 2008. The Possible and Revelation. Trans. Christina M. Gschwandtner. In The Visible and the Revealed, 1–17. New York: Fordham University Press. German original: 1988. Phänomenologie und Offenbarung (trans. R. Funk). In Religionsphilosophie Heute: Chancen und Bedeutung in Philosophie und Theologie, ed. Lois Halder, Klaus Kinezler and Joseph Möller. Düsseldorf: Patmos.

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  • ———. 2016. Givenness and Revelation. Trans. Stephen E. Lewis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  • McElwee, Joshua J. 2015. ‘Catholicism can and must change, Francis forcefully tells Italian Church gathering.’ National Catholic Reporter. https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/catholicism-can-and-must-change-francis-forcefully-tells-italian-church-gathering. Accessed 18 Feb 2019.

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Correspondence to Christiaan Jacobs-Vandegeer .

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Jacobs-Vandegeer, C. (2020). Introduction: Intersections of Revelation and Hermeneutics. In: Marion, JL., Jacobs-Vandegeer, C. (eds) The Enigma of Divine Revelation. Contributions to Hermeneutics, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28132-8_1

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