Beyond Theism and Atheism: Heidegger s Significance for Religious Thinking

My first year in graduate school marked by initial expo sure to Heidegger and some of his important early essays. At tha~ time, disenchanted with the state in which "religious thought" lay, I was quickly struck by the potential Heidegger presented for breaking new ground in a field that had seeming ly exhausted itself by reworking the same old issues and answers. That insight, along with the conviction that Heideg ger had been misused and misunderstood by theologians and religious thinkers ever since he burst upon the intellectual scene with the publ ication of Sein und Zei t, grew throughout my graduate career and resulted in a dissertation on Heidegger and religious thinking, of which the present text is a revised and updated version. This text reflects my belief that Heid egger, when "properly" understood on such matters as truth, God (and gods), and "faith", presents us with a unique voice and vision that cannot be co-opted into any sort of theology -- be it negative, existential, dialectical or Thomistic - and indeed seriously challenges the viability of any "theol ogy".

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My first year in graduate school marked by initial expo­ sure to Heidegger and some of his important early essays. At tha~ time, disenchanted with the state in which "religious thought" lay, I was quickly struck by the potential Heidegger presented for breaking new ground in a field that had seeming­ ly exhausted itself by reworking the same old issues and answers. That insight, along with the conviction that Heideg­ ger had been misused and misunderstood by theologians and religious thinkers ever since he burst upon the intellectual scene with the publ ication of Sein und Zei t, grew throughout my graduate career and resulted in a dissertation on Heidegger and religious thinking, of which the present text is a revised and updated version. This text reflects my belief that Heid­ egger, when "properly" understood on such matters as truth, God (and gods), and "faith", presents us with a unique voice and vision that cannot be co-opted into any sort of theology -- be it negative, existential, dialectical or Thomistic -­ and indeed seriously challenges the viability of any "theol­ ogy".

Contenu
I. Introduction.- Notes.- II. God is Dead: The Destruction of Onto-Theo-Logy.- 1. The Problem The Theological Use of Heidegger.- 2. The Death of God and the Matter to be Thought.- 3. Heidegger and Theology?.- 4. Toward a Different Religious Thinking.- III. Religion as True: Disclosure of a World.- 1. The Problem What is Truth?.- 2. Toward Ereignis Meaning, World, Truth.- 3. Truth and the Plurality of Religions.- IV. Religion as Finding Man's Place: Gods and the Fourfold.- 1. The Problem Thinking the Divine.- 2. Gods, the God, and the Holy.- 3. Building and Dwelling Mortals Amidst the Fourfold.- 4. Rethinking What is Divine.- V. Religion as Response: The Call of Being.- 1. The Problem A Non-Metaphysical Thinking.- 2. Thinking Responding and Corresponding.- 3. Thinking and Poetizing.- 4. Thanking and the Piety of Thinking.- VI. Waiting: The Future of Religion and the Task of Thanking.- 1. The Problem Hope and Nostalgia.- 2. Science and Religious Thinking.- 3. Deconstruction and Religious Thinking.- 4. Faith and Religious Thinking.- VII. A Pause on the Way.- Notes.- Selected Bibliography.- Indices.