Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of abbreviations of Levinas' works
- Introduction
- 1 Levinas, phenomenology, and theology
- 2 Ethics, theology, and the question of God
- 3 Incarnate existence
- 4 Existence as transcendence, or the call of the infinite: towards a theology of grace
- 5 The economy and language of grace: grace, desire, and the awakening of the subject
- 6 The liturgical orientation of the self
- 7 Eucharistic responsibility and working for justice
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
2 - Ethics, theology, and the question of God
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of abbreviations of Levinas' works
- Introduction
- 1 Levinas, phenomenology, and theology
- 2 Ethics, theology, and the question of God
- 3 Incarnate existence
- 4 Existence as transcendence, or the call of the infinite: towards a theology of grace
- 5 The economy and language of grace: grace, desire, and the awakening of the subject
- 6 The liturgical orientation of the self
- 7 Eucharistic responsibility and working for justice
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
Ethics is ‘first theology’? Levinas suggests an interesting idea – ‘an original ethical event which would also be first theology’ – in a 1992 interview entitled The Awakening of the I (IRB, 182). Theology will only ever be worthy of the name when it is attentive to the holiness of neighbour, that is, when it is ethically redeemed. He also notes,
We have been reproached for ignoring theology; and we do not contest the necessity of a recovery, at least, the necessity of choosing an opportunity for a recovery of these themes. We think, however, that theological recuperation comes after the glimpse of holiness, which is primary.
(OGCM, ix)That glimpse of holiness is revealed in the other person, through whom alone one can gain access to God. In other words, ethics is not only ‘first philosophy’ but also ‘first theology’, and ethics, being first, provides the common point of departure for both phenomenology and theology. Said otherwise, theology cannot be undertaken other than by way of the human detour. What contribution, then, can Levinas make to a theology, ethically understood?
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
It has already been noted that one should be cautious about using Levinas' religious writings to illumine his philosophical writings, but also that one should resist the temptation to separate Levinas, the phenomenologist-philosopher, and Levinas, the Jewish-religious thinker.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Levinas and Theology , pp. 45 - 72Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006