Hermeneutics and the Philosophy of Religion

Paul Ricœur (1913-2005) was one of the most distinguished and prolific philosophers of religion in the second half of the 20th century. Through his wide-ranging writings, a self-reflective and critical approach to hermeneutics became an indispensable tool for the philosophical interpretation of the complex text worlds of religious traditions and for critical reflection on cultural phenomena. His philosophical hermeneutics was sensitive to the lack of transparency of the human self and the corresponding intricacies of direct and indirect communication in religion and culture. It was open to the analytic and phenomenological traditions but, by combining phenomenological description with hermeneutical interpretation, also decisively different from other contemporary approaches. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth this volume explores and evaluates Ricœur's contributions to the hermeneutic turn in the philosophy of religion. His hermeneutical phenomenology enriches and reorients the contemporary practice of philosophy of religion, moving beyond the barren varieties of metaphysical theism and antitheism in both the analytic and post-analytic traditions.Ingolf U. Dalferth: Hermeneutics of the Call: Introduction

I. Hermeneutics and Religion
David Tracy: Paul Ricœur: Hermeneutics and the Dialectic of Religious Forms - Marlene A. Block: Paul Ricœur's Philosophy as Mourning, as Conversion, and as a Way of Life: A Response to David Tracy - Pamela Sue Anderson: Confidence in the Power of Memory: Ricœur's Dynamic Hermeneutics of Life - Richard T. Livingston: Hope in the Fallibility of Memory: A Response to Pamela Sue Anderson - Walter Schweidler: The Self-Repeating Origin: Ontological Aspects of Ricœur's Concept of Hermeneutics - Nathan Greeley: On What it Means for God to Speak a Word: A Reply to Walter Schweidler

II. Philosophy and Biblical Poetry
Carsten Pallesen: A »Questioning Lament«: Trajectories of Biblical Poetry and Interpretive Prose in Psalm 22 and in the Passion of Mark as a Hegelian Moment in Ricœur's Philosophy of Religion - Duncan Gale: Lamentable Answers and Interpretive Religion, with Continual Reference to Ricœur and Hegel: A Response to Carsten Palleson - Anselm K. Min: Ricœur's Critical Philosophy of History and Hermeneutics of Historical Consciousness: Some Hegelian Responses - Joshua Kira: Could Hegel Survive a Hegelian Critique?: A Response to Anselm Min

III. Hermeneutics and Theology
Pierre Bühler: »Here I Stand…«: Hermeneutics of the Self as a Legacy of Reformation Thought - Kirsten Gerdes: Other than 'Self': A Response to Pierre Bühler- Nicola Stricker: Thinking the Revelation - Eric E. Hall: Hermeneutics as Loving Revelation: A Response to Nicola Stricker - Christina M. Gschwandtner: »Adhesion« to the »Essential«: from Sacred Text to Faithful Action - Jeffrey C. Murico: The (Political) Power of Liturgy: A Response to Christina M. Gschwandtner