Volume 2006, XLVIII, Number 2

Author: / Stephan Vasel
Original title: / Ancilla, Domina sive Meretrix : eine kleine Kritik der säkularen Vernunft
English title:
Abstract: / History of mutual relationship of faith and reason, of theology and philosophy is very intricate. Philosophy as a partner was regarded in different times with different respect from princess across maid to bitch. Christianity from the very beginning strove for the adequate expression of its confession by means of the categories and worldview of that time. Paul, Lukas and John are trying express the same message but they do this with different way for different contexts. Although middle age regarded philosophy as maid of theology and Luther spoke even about bitch, philosophy still played important role for the shaping of Christian faith. Only modern times with these of the secular reason tried to set them totally apart. Religion and faith will gradually lose their attraction and meaning and philosophy, science or art will replace it. Last development with increase of religious interest in the world and with the emergence of many quasi-religious phenomena as Harry Potter or Lord of Rings or popularity of modern spiritual movements shows how naive conception it was. Theology is now confronted with similar situation as in its first centuries. It is in its interest to find the right relationship to philosophy.
Keywords: / secular reason, quasi-religious phenomena, theology and philosophy
Author: / Lenka Karfíková
Original title: / God of Philosophers : the Idea of God in A.N. Whitehead and E. Lévinas
English title: / God of Philosophers : the Idea of God in A.N. Whitehead and E. Lévinas
Abstract: / It is very difficult to imagine two conceptions of God which would be more different from each other than those of Whitehead and Lévinas. Whitehead’s stress for God’s immanence, which implies and embraces all individual subjectivities, runs the risk of losing God addressing the world from a distance whereas Lévinas with his stress for God’s transcendence, which men can meet exclusively in the alterity of the other and in ethical action, can only hardly express what we are used to call God’s immanence. Both approaches have long tradition in the European thinking. Whitehead’s conception reminds of Aristotle, Eriugena or Hegel while Lévinas based in the Jewish tradition would find some parallels by Kant or in Protestant Christianity. Intention of the author is not to prefer one of the conceptions but, on the contrary, to underline their mutual comlementarity, their opposition may offer better witness about the God of philosophers in the European tradition, than preferring one isolated conception.
Keywords: / Alfred N. Whitehead, Emmanuel Lévinas, idea of God
Author: / Jan Kranát
Original title: / Ist Kant der Philosoph des Protestantismus
English title: / Is Kant the philosopher of Protestantism
Abstract: / Question of confessional character of some philosophy is neither from philosophical nor from theological point of view crucial. For the most of the history of theology it was not even posed. Situation changed in the second half of the 19th century when the catholic new scholastic turned to St. Thomas philosophy. It is the time of Kant comeback to the philosophical stage and Catholic Church opposed with call “back to St. Thomas und Aristoteles”whereas Kant was regarded as the deepest point of the philosophy on its way towards subjectivism and skepticism since Luther reformation. Nobody of the Kant´s contemporaries would deny protestant roots of his thought, but only after almost 100 years in reaction to catholic identification with St. Thomas is Kant being identified by number of protestant itellectuals as philosoph of protestantismus. The conviction was based primarily on identification of Luther´s plea for irationalism of faith and Kant´s famous dictum about the necessity to limit the reason in order to make space for faith. How superficial such conclusions may be shows the whole discussion about cofessionalismus of the philosophy at that time. The only meaningful content gets the question of confessional character of philosophy when we use the confession as a thoughts background or hermeneutical key.
Keywords: / Immanuel Kant, Protestantism, religion
Author: / Tim Nobel
Original title: / Jean-Luc Marion, Idols and Liberation Theology
English title:
Abstract: / Marion´s prime contribution to theology must be seen in calling theology to reflect on its presupposition, especially its presupposition about God. Idolic character of our concepts of God may occur in different ways. Marion´s conceptualizing of idol and of what is iconic offers a needed tool to theology. Understanding of the danger of conceptual idolatry on the one hand and the power of the icon to allow us to encounter God on the other hand represents valuable contribution of contemporary “religious” philosophy to theology.
Keywords: / Jean Luc Marion, liberation theology, idols
Author: / Šárka Grauová
Original title: / „Because we are alive and thus all the grandeur remains for us”
English title: / „Because we are alive and thus all the grandeur remains for us”
Abstract: / With the progressive secularisation of the society and culture the accounts of transcendence seemed to disappear from both literature and philosophy. The article compares the approach to the elements of human experience that apparently transcend the world of the immanent in two more or less declaredly non-religious 20th century authors: French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Portuguese writer Vergílio Ferreira. After a short analysis of the way in which the transcendent is recaptured in a concrete work of philosophy (Le Visible et l‘invisible) and a work of fiction (Para sempre), it focuses on the verbal means felt by the authors as ways of access towards the theoretically impossible and unspeakable.
Keywords: / Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Vergilio Ferreira, transcendence, philosophy and literature
Book reviews
Author: / Jan Černý
Original title: / Experience and the Absolute
English title:
Reviewed book: / LACOSTE, Jean-Yves. Expérience et absolu: questions disputées sur l´humanité de l´homme. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1994. 239 s. ISBN 2-13-046179-4.
Author: / Petr Sláma
Original title: / Hinter der Bibel mit Mario Liverani
English title: / Beyond the Bibel with Mario Liverani
Reviewed book: / LIVERANI, Mario. Israel´s History and the History of Israel. London : Equinox, 2006. xx, 427 s. ISBN 1-904768-76-8.