{"title":"God Who Comes to Mind: Emmanuel Levinas as Inspiration and Challenge for Theological Thinking","authors":"Jakub Sirovátka","doi":"10.1515/opth-2020-0189","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract From the beginning, Levinas’ thought was received not only by philosophers but also by theologians. But his thought is very radical and represents both a challenge and an inspiration for theology. The article aims to see where the challenge and inspiration might lie. Levinas’s basic question is how finite thought can think an infinite and transcendent God. Levinas develops the phenomenology of the Idea of the Infinite and interprets Descartes’ idea of God as a practical desire. For Levinas, the relation to God is intrinsically linked to the relation to the Other. It is an attempt to characterize an autonomous ethical subjectivity whose autonomy, however, does not begin with the subject but in the Other, in whom the presence of God is always already manifest. This description of the subject corresponds to the human being as understood in Christian theology.","PeriodicalId":42436,"journal":{"name":"Open Theology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Open Theology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2020-0189","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract From the beginning, Levinas’ thought was received not only by philosophers but also by theologians. But his thought is very radical and represents both a challenge and an inspiration for theology. The article aims to see where the challenge and inspiration might lie. Levinas’s basic question is how finite thought can think an infinite and transcendent God. Levinas develops the phenomenology of the Idea of the Infinite and interprets Descartes’ idea of God as a practical desire. For Levinas, the relation to God is intrinsically linked to the relation to the Other. It is an attempt to characterize an autonomous ethical subjectivity whose autonomy, however, does not begin with the subject but in the Other, in whom the presence of God is always already manifest. This description of the subject corresponds to the human being as understood in Christian theology.
期刊介绍:
Open Theology is an international Open Access, peer-reviewed academic journal that welcomes contributions written in English addressing religion in its various forms and aspects: historical, theological, sociological, psychological, and other. The journal encompasses all major disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies, presenting doctrine, history, organization and everyday life of various types of religious groups and the relations between them. We publish articles from the field of Theology as well as Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology of Religion and also dialogue between Religion and Science. The Open Theology does not present views of any particular theological school nor of a particular religious organization. The contributions are written by researchers who represent different religious views. The authors present their research concerning the old religious traditions as well as new religious movements. The aim of the journal is to promote an international and interdisciplinary dialogue in the field of Theology and Religious Studies. The journal seeks also to provide researchers, pastors and other interested persons with the fruits of academic studies.