Overview

Since the last decade of the twentieth century, there has been talk of a return of religion in Western societies - the very societies that were regarded by many people as undergoing an irreversible process of secularization. Paul Ricoeur's philosophical writings on religion are contemporaneous with this movement of secularization and return, while at the same time his work complicates the schema. In Ricoeur's view, religion is part of the universe of convictions in which subjects live concretely, convictions that deserve to be heard and placed under the lights of argumentation and discussion. For Ricoeur, religion is the other of philosophy, the non-philosophical par excellence. He did not write a systematic philosophy of religion, but he wrote extensively about religion as a meeting place for language and conviction. The essays in this volume, written between 1953 and 2003, attest to the coherence, richness, and variety of Ricoeur's secular and philosophical approach towards religion. They range over the problem of guilt, the legitimacy or otherwise of Freudian, Marxist, and other critiques of religion, the relation between experience and language in religious discourse, the study of biblical hermeneutics, the nature of religious belief, and reflections on sacrifice, gifts, and debt. Ricoeur draws on religion to think, while not neglecting the analysis of religion itself. These texts by one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century will be of interest to students and scholars of philosophy and theology and to anyone concerned with the enduring role of religion in the modern world.

Full Product Details

Author:   Paul Ricoeur (University of Paris X, France University of Chicago, IL) ,  Kathleen Blamey
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.80cm , Height: 3.50cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9781509565542

ISBN 10:   150956554
Pages:   244
Publication Date:   24 October 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
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Table of Contents

Editor's Introduction Note on this edition I Guilt, the Intersection of Philosophy and Religion 1. Tragic Guilt and Biblical Guilt      I. Finitude and Guilt      II. """"Tragic Fault""""      III. """"Biblical Sin""""      IV. Subterranean Affinities II Confronting the Modern Critique of Religion 2. Freudian Psychoanalysis and Christian Faith      I. Rules for Reading Freud      II. Religion and Instinct      III. Religion and Fantasy      IV. Value and Limits of the Psychoanalysis of Religion 3. The Hermeneutics of Secularization      Faith, Ideology, Utopia      Introduction: Secularization as a Hermeneutical Question      I. The Dialectic of Utopia and Ideology      II. Faith Between Ideology and Utopia III Hermeneutics of Religious Language 4. Manifestation and Proclamation      I. Phenomenology of Manifestation      II. The Hermeneutics of Proclamation      III. Towards What Mediation? 5. The interpretive Narrative      Exegesis and Theology in the Narratives of the Passion      I. From Kerygma to the Narrative      II. Narrative Articulation      III. Sketch of the Literary Analysis of the Narratives of the Passion in the Gospel of Mark 6. Experience and Language in Religious Discourse      I. Difficulties of a Phenomenology of Religion      II. Interlude: The Great Code      III. The Bible, a Polyphonic Text IV The Kantian Line 7. Theonomy and/or Autonomy      I. Thinking Theonomy      II. From Theonomy to Autonomy 8. Religious belief. The Difficult Path of the Religious      I. The Capable Human Being, the Addressee of Religion      II. The Difficulties of the Religious      III. Consequences V Final Dialogues on the Overabundance of the Gift 9. """"Considerations on the Triad: Sacrifice, Debt, Grace""""      According to Marcel Hénaff      I.      II.      III. 10. Paul the Apostle. Proclamation and Argumentation        Recent Readings      I. Proclamation and Rupture      II. Aporetic Transition      III. Strategies of Argumentation Origin of the Texts Notes Index

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Author Information

Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005) is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished philosophers of the twentieth century. He taught for many years at the University of Chicago. His many works include Freud and Philosophy, Time and Narrative, and Oneself as Another.

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