Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T09:10:17.472Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A critique of Heidegger's critique of Christian philosophy in the Introduction to Metaphysics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2015

JOSEPH G. TRABBIC
JOSEPH G. TRABBIC*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida, 34142, USA
*
e-mail: joseph.trabbic@avemaria.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Martin Heidegger argues against the possibility of Christian philosophy in his Introduction to Metaphysics. Christians, Heidegger tells us, cannot authentically ask the fundamental question of philosophy – ‘Why are there beings at all rather than nothing?’ – because they already suppose that they have an answer to this question in their Creator-God. Moreover, Christianity, says Heidegger, takes philosophy to be foolishness and, thus, would never try to answer its questions in the first place. Finally, Heidegger insists that any thoughtful questioning in a Christian context is theology and not philosophy. I argue that none of these reasons for rejecting Christian philosophy ultimately holds up. I also criticize an interpretation of Heidegger on this topic proposed by Walter Kaufmann.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 71 - 86
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anselm (1998) Monologion , in Davies, B. & Evans, G. R. (eds) Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works, Harrison, S. (tr.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 5–81.Google Scholar
Aquinas, T. (1947) Summa theologica, Fathers of the English Dominican Province (tr.) (New York NY: Benziger).Google Scholar
Aristotle (1941) Metaphysics , in McKeon, R. (ed.) The Basic Works of Aristotle, Ross, W. D. (tr.) (New York NY: Random House).Google Scholar
Barth, K. & Bultmann, R. (1981) Karl Barth–Rudolf Bultmann Letters: 1922–1966, Jaspert, B. (ed.), Bromiley, G. W. (tr.) (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans).Google Scholar
Bernasconi, R. (1995) ‘On Heidegger's other sins of omission: his exclusion of Asian thought from the origins of occidental metaphysics and his denial of the possibility of Christian philosophy’, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 69, 333–50.Google Scholar
Capelle, P. (2001) Philosophie et théologie dans la pensée de Martin Heidegger (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf).Google Scholar
Caputo, J. D. (1982) Heidegger and Aquinas: An Essay on Overcoming Metaphysics (New York NY: Fordham University Press).Google Scholar
Carlisle, C. (2013) ‘Kierkegaard and Heidegger’, in Pattison, G. & Lippitt, J. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Kierkegaard (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 421–439.Google Scholar
Clement of Alexandria (1991) Stromateis, books I–III, Ferguson, J. (tr.) (Washington, D. C.: Catholic University of America Press).Google Scholar
Crowe, B. D. (2013) ‘Heidegger on the Apostle Paul’, in Frick, P. (ed.) Paul in the Grip of the Philosophers: The Apostle and Contemporary Continental Philosophy (Minneapolis MN: Augsburg Fortress Press), 39–56.Google Scholar
Desilva, D. (1995) ‘Paul and the Stoa: a comparison’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 38, 549–564.Google Scholar
Gilson, É. (1960) The Elements of Christian Philosophy (New York NY: Doubleday).Google Scholar
Glen, G. S. (1965) Pastoral Problems in First Corinthians (London: Epworth Press).Google Scholar
Gooch, P. W. (2009) ‘Paul, the mind of Christ, and philosophy’, in Moser, P. K. (ed.) Jesus and Philosophy: New Essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 84–105.Google Scholar
Grabmann, M. (1922) ‘De Thoma Erfordiensi auctore Grammaticae quae Ioanni Duns Scoto adscribitur speculativae’, Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 15, 273–277.Google Scholar
Guignon, C. B. (1993) ‘Introduction’, in Guignon, C. B. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1995) Lectures on the History of Philosophy, I, Haldane, E. S. (tr.) (Lincoln NE: Bison Books).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1962) Being and Time, Macquarrie, J. & Robinson, E. (trs) (New York NY: Harper & Row).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1969) Identity and Difference, Stambaugh, J. (tr.) (New York NY: Harper & Row).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1971a) ‘A dialogue on language’, in On the Way to Language, Herz, P. D. (tr.) (New York NY: Harper & Row), 1–54.Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1971b) ‘The nature of language’, in On the Way to Language, Herz, P. D. (tr.) (New York NY: Harper & Row), 57–108.Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1977) The Piety of Thinking, Hart, J. G. & Maraldo, J. C. (trs) (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1982) The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, Hofstadter, A. (tr.) (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1983) Einführung in die Metaphysik, XL (Frankfurt: Klostermann).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1986) Seminare, Gesamtausgabe, XV (Frankfurt: Klostermann).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1988) Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Emad, P. & Maly, K. (trs) (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1991a) Nietzsche, I–II, , D. F. , Krell (tr.) (San Francisco CA: HarperSanFrancisco).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1991b) Nietzsche, III–IV, Krell, D. F. (tr.) (San Francisco CA: HarperSanFrancisco).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1996) ‘Das Problem der Sünde bei Martin Luther’, in Jaspert, B. (ed.) Sachgemäße Exegese: Die Protokolle aus Rudolf Bultmanns Neutestamentlichen Seminaren 1921–1951 (Marburg: Elvert), 28–33.Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1998a) ‘Introduction’ to “What is metaphysics?”’, in McNeill, W. (ed.) Pathmarks, Kaufmann, W. (tr.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 277–290.Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1998b) ‘Letter on humanism’, in McNeill, W. (ed.) Pathmarks, Capuzzi, F. A. (tr.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 239–276.Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (1998c) ‘Phenomenology and theology’, in McNeill, W. (ed.) Pathmarks, Hart, J. G. & Maraldo, J. C. (trs) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 39–62.Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (2000) Introduction to Metaphysics, Fried, G. & Polt, R. (trs) (New Haven CT: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (2001) Phenomenological Interpretations of Aristotle: Initiation into Phenomenological Research, Rojcewicz, R. (tr.) (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (2004) The Phenomenology of Religious Life, Fritsch, M. & Gosetti-Ferencei, J. A. (trs) (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (2006) Mindfulness, Emad, P. & Kalary, T. (trs) (New York NY: Continuum).Google Scholar
Heidegger, M. (2010) Phenomenology of Intuition and Expression, Colony, T. (tr.) (New York NY: Continuum).Google Scholar
Hemming, L. P. (2002) Heidegger's Atheism: The Refusal of a Theological Voice (Notre Dame IN: Notre Dame University Press).Google Scholar
Kaufmann, W. (1959) From Shakespeare to Existentialism (New York NY: Doubleday).Google Scholar
Kisiel, T. (1993) The Genesis of Heidegger's Being and Time (Berkeley CA: University of California Press).Google Scholar
Kovacs, G. (1980) ‘Philosophy and faith in Heidegger’, Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 54, 135–143.Google Scholar
Kovacs, G. (1990) The Question of God in Heidegger's Phenomenology (Evanston IL: Northwestern University Press).Google Scholar
Marion, J.-L. (1991) God without Being, Carlson, T. A. (tr.) (Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Nock, A. D. (1962) Early Gentile Christianity and its Hellenistic Background (New York NY: Harper).Google Scholar
Oakes, K. (2012) Karl Barth on Theology and Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Origen (1953) Contra Celsum, Chadwick, H. (tr.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Ott, H. (1993) Martin Heidegger: A Political Life, Blunden, A. (tr.) (New York NY: Basic Books).Google Scholar
Pieper, J. (2006) ‘A plea for philosophy’, in Wald, B. (ed.) For the Love of Wisdom: Essays on the Nature of Philosophy, Wassermann, R. (tr.) (San Francisco CA: Ignatius Press), 81–156.Google Scholar
Plato (1961) The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Hamilton, E. & Cairns, H. (eds) (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renard, A. (1941) La querelle sur la possibilité de la philosophie chrétienne: essai documentaire et critique (Paris: Editions École et College).Google Scholar
Sadler, G. B. (2011) Reason Fulfilled by Revelation: The 1930s Christian Philosophy Debates in France (Washington, D. C.: Catholic University of America Press).Google Scholar
Schlier, H. (1977) ‘Denken im Nachdenken’, in Neske, G. (ed.) Erinnerung an Martin Heidegger (Pfullingen: Neske), 217–221.Google Scholar
Sheehan, T. (1979) ‘Heidegger's “Introduction to the phenomenology of religion”, 1920–1921’, The Personalist, 60, 312–324.Google Scholar
Sheehan, T. (1993) ‘Reading a life: Heidegger and hard times’, in Guignon, C. B. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 70–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. K. A. (1997) ‘The art of Christian atheism: faith and philosophy in early Heidegger’, Faith and Philosophy, 14, 71–81.Google Scholar
Stowers, S. (1990) ‘Paul on the use and abuse of reason’, in Balch, D. L., Ferguson, E., & Meeks, W. A. (eds) Greeks, Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe (Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press), 253–286.Google Scholar
Tertullian (1956) ‘The prescriptions against heretics’, in Greenslade, S. L. (ed.) Early Latin Theology: Library of Early Christian Classics, v, Greenslade, S. L. (tr.) (London: SCM Press), 31–64.Google Scholar
Thomson, I. (2000) ‘Ontotheology? Understanding Heidegger's Destruktion of metaphysics’, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 8, 297–327.Google Scholar
Van Buren, J. (1994a) ‘Martin Heidegger, Martin Luther’, in Kisiel, T. & van Buren, J. (eds) Reading Heidegger from the Start: Essays in His Earliest Thought (Albany NY: SUNY Press), 159–174.Google Scholar
Van Buren, J. (1994b) The Young Heidegger: Rumor of the Hidden King (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Vigliotti, R. (2001) ‘The young Heidegger's ambitions for the chair of Christian philosophy (II) and Hugo Ott's charge of opportunism’, Studia Phaenomenologica 1, 323–350.Google Scholar
Welte, B. (1977) ‘Suchen und Finden: Ansprache zur Beisetzung am 28 mai 1976’, in Neske, G. (ed.) Erinnerung an Martin Heidegger (Pfullingen: Neske), 253–256.Google Scholar
Westphal, M. (1999) ‘Overcoming onto-theology’, in Caputo, J. D. & Scanlon, M. J. (eds) God, the Gift, and Postmodernism (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press), 146–169.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J. (2013) Heidegger's Eschatology: Theological Horizons in Martin Heidegger's Early Work (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Wolfe, J. (2014) Heidegger and Theology (New York NY: Bloomsbury).Google Scholar