Fate and Faith after Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy
- Philosophy
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
In this groundbreaking new work, Dillard makes a powerful case for bringing contemporary Christian theology into critical dialogue with Martin Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy (Of the Event). Following his initial receptivity to theology in his early writings, Heidegger becomes increasingly agnostic and even atheistic in the 1930s until the sudden resurgence of religious discourse in Contributions. Dillard shows that there are good reasons for Heidegger's striking reversal. Key philosophical concepts from Contributions enable Heidegger to overcome earlier theological conundrums left unresolved in his earlier engagements with themes in St. Paul and Luther, while the need to make a fateful decision regarding "the last god" prevents the central philosophical task of Contributions from collapsing into empty tautology or relapsing into objectionable metaphysics. Nevertheless, Heidegger leaves us in the predicament of having no clear idea of how we are to make the crucial decision about divinity. After considering several unsuccessful proposals for escaping the dilemma, Dillard develops a christological solution based on Heidegger's engagement with the poetry of Georg Trakl. The resulting theological perspective is defended from some possible criticisms and situated within the broader context of contemporary postmetaphysical Heideggerian theology.
Endorsements (1)
“Dillard’s book offers a critical engagement with Heidegger’s Beiträge zur Philosophie, mining its theological insights in order to develop a non-metaphysical Streit theology with a distinctive christological emphasis. In addition to the Beiträge, Dillard discusses key themes in Heidegger’s early writings such as his 1927 essay ‘Phenomenology and Theology’ and his writings on St. Paul’s epistles and Martin Luther’s theology of the cross, and the positive role of Angst in one’s ongoing faith-struggle. Through an exploration of Heidegger’s presentations of nothingness—as creative, delineative, and captivating— Dillard proposes an original reading of what one might call a triunity of nothingness. Dillard’s captivating book will, no doubt, be of significant interest to Continental philosophers of religion and Christian theologians who continue to wrestle with Heidegger's difficult yet rewarding philosophy.”
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