“Positivization” of postmodern interpretation of religion and faith in the work of Merold Westphal

Keywords: existential theology, Positive Postmodernism, “Radical hermeneutics”, spirituality, “Religion C”, Christianity, faith

Abstract

The article analyzes the specificity of the correlation between postmodernist and post-existentialist thinking in the context of rethinking S. Kierkegaard ideas in the philosophy of the religion of M. Westphal. Characterized by the features of the concept of “posi-tive postmodernism” by M. Westphal, which offers an informal version of the relationship of reason
and faith in our time. The essence of the methodological understanding of the American theologian “hermeneutics of endurance” and “hermeneutics of suspicion” is revealed, which, on the one hand, are intended to remind a person that he is not God, and on the other – to prevent the disappearance of man with its existential and psycho-emotional problems with contemporary theological thinking. It is argued that the post-existentialist version of the existential theology of M. Westphal, although theoretically “intertwined” in the context of modern postmodernist thought, is in fact the opposite of the position of the wing of postmodernists, which, according to the American thinker, are trying to build a world free from moral obligations and divine grace

Author Biography

Serhii Shevchenko, Doctor of Philosophy, Research Fellow, Department of History of Foreign Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Research Fellow, Department of History of Foreign Philosophy, G. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

References

Bachinin V., Cherenkov, M. (2015), Protestant ethics and spirit of ostomodernism [Protestantskaya etika i dukh ostmodernizma], Bookcarriage, Kiev, 376 p. [in Russian].

Gschwandtner, С. (2012), Postmodern Apologetics?: Arguments for God in Contemporary Philoso- С. (2012), Postmodern Apologetics?: Arguments for God in Contemporary Philoso- . (2012), Postmodern Apologetics?: Arguments for God in Contemporary Philoso-phy (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy (FUP)), Fordham University Press, New York,384 p.

Stewart, J.(2003), Kierkegaards Relations to Hegel Reconsidered, Cambridge University Press, New York, Pp. xix+ 695.

Westphal, M. (1997) “Positive Postmodernism as Radical Hermeneutics”, The Very Idea of Radical Hermeneutics [ed. Roy Martinez], Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, p. 48 – 63.

Westphal, M. (2001), Overcoming onto-theology: toward a postmodern Christian faith. Fordham University Press, New York, 306 р.

Westphal, M. (2008), Levinas and Kierkegaard in dialogue. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 86 р.

Westphal, M. (2014), Kierkegaard’s Concept of Faith (Kierkegaard as a Christian Thinker). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 294 p.
Published
2018-02-27
How to Cite
Shevchenko, S. (2018). “Positivization” of postmodern interpretation of religion and faith in the work of Merold Westphal. IDEAS. PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC ISSUES, (1(11), 60-66. https://doi.org/10.34017/1313-9703-2018-1(11)-60-66
Section
Philosophy of Religion. Religion studies