Heidegger among the Theologians

In this article, Jean-Yves Lacoste lays out the central moments of Heidegger’s complicated relationship to Christian thinking, from his earliest studies under Carl Braig up to his death in 1976. With careful attention to personal letters, scholarly reviews, conferences, as well as major texts, Lacoste shows that this influence was mostly in one direction: despite the eagerness of theology to engage with Heidegger, Heidegger continually demonstrated reticence to approach theology except strictly on his own terms. The article closes with a retrospective evaluation of the central themes of the original Heidegger et la Question de Dieu volume, which took up this investigation in France in 1979. Despite the fact that its publication predated many of Heidegger’s essential texts on this theme, these essays, in Lacoste’s estimation, remain a “perfectly timeless” resource for those seeking to understand the place of God within phenomenology.