Paul Ricoeurs biblische und philosophische Hermeneutik des Selbst

The French philosopher Paul Ricœur (1913-2005) always refused to be called a »theologian.« Nevertheless he dealt with biblical subjects his whole life. During his entire work on philosophical and biblical hermeneutics, these two subjects were in constant conflict, a conflict never dealt with directly by Ricœur. In her study, Kathrin Messner attempts to face this challenge. In doing so, she pays special attention to the last two Edinburgh Gifford Lectures of 1986 (»The self in the mirror of the Scriptures« and »The 'commissioned' self: 'O my prophetic soul!'«), both of which have not yet been translated into German, as well as Ricœur's 1989 Tübingen lecture Amour et Justice. Liebe und Gerechtigkeit (Love and Justice). When compared to his main philosophical-hermeneutical work Oneself as Another and in the context of his Intellectual Autobiography (1995), surprising discoveries come to light.

This study was awarded the faculty prize of the University of Zurich for the best dissertation at the Protestant faculty in 2013.