Paul Ricouer, a French philosopher and theologian in the tradition of hermeneutics.
He taught in the United States of America in the University of Chicago and alsto taught in Europe for a number of different schools. He was once the student of Jean Nabert, a well-acclaimed French philosopher, and of Gabriel Marcel, whose staunch Catholic existentialist beliefs apparently did not find contension with Paul’s adamant Protestant views. Paul Ricouer is a great man with a great mind.He has contributed much to the academic field in terms of the literature he has created. In this book, we are made able to bear witness to the true mechanisms behind his style. ‘Figuring the Sacred: Religion, Narrative, and Imagination’ is an anthology of different articles and entries reflecting similar goals and thought patterns and which most importantly gives a reflection of the different issues and concepts that dwell in and inhabit the mind of this well-known philosopher.
.The anthology is basically a collection of essays on the study of religion, the philosophers of religion, the Bible, reflections of theological nature, and practical theology. Ricouer has fostered an atmosphere of inquiry within his peers and counterparts. The main problem that plays over and over again in Ricouer’s mind, however, is just that which has become the topic of the anthology – religion, narrative, and imagination. These are conceptualized in more concrete ways in the book.The anthology starts with a look into certain realizations and concepts that form the foundation of religion-based studies.
This involves the study of the interactions of philosophy and religious language, of manifestation and proclamation, and of sacred text and the direct community that proclaimed the said text to be sacred. Ricouer weaves in and out of these concepts; discussing and creating links where none were previously seen. What was once viewed as valid polar opposites become nothing more than components of a single dynamic hermeneutical process.The constructive nature of Ricouer’s preferred approach in dealing with discussions of religion can be seen in the book at the moments where he engages Kant, Rosenzweig, and Levinas into constructive discussion. The writings of these three giants of theology provide Ricouer with the much needed look into three approaches different from his own formulated approach. The literature that is used in this establishment of dialogical method are Kants’ Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, Rosenzweig’s The Star of Redemption, and Levina’s Otherwise Than Being or Beyond Essencee.
After this, Ricouer goes back to his original favored methods. It is at the third part of the book that Ricouer moves from structural phenomenology to hermeneutical phenomenology The inability of structural methods to adequately address the needs of the discussion are stressed with its incapability to explain reasons and groundwork behind redaction history. The section The Polyphany of Biblical Discourses discusses methods according to Ricouer. It is here where the role of imagination in spreading biblical faith is stressed upon the reader.Among other concepts tackled in this area of the anthology, the manner by which time operates in biblical discussions and the nature of narrative in becoming a valuable medium for interpretation are also exposed to the reader. Not soon after, the reader will find themselves faced by four theological propositions overseen by Ricouer.
The four include the following entities: God, self, narrative and evil. Again, hope is shown by Ricouer, here, to be the ultimate end of theological discourse. Also in this chapter of the anthology, the reader will be shown the invitational nature of the different methods by which God is named.The last few parts of the book then now become about more human concepts such as identitiy of the self, fairness, suffering and how these are related to the greater concepts of love and justice.
Ricouer is found, at the last essay he chose to close the anthology, to retrace the steps he took at the beginning of the anthology. Love and justice are once again tied into a seamless whole wherein neither one is considered a separate concept but rather are seen only as components of the greater single integrated whole.Towards the conclusion of the book, the reader might be able to note the highly philoshophical nature of Ricouer’s nature. However, closer inspection would show that the theology practiced by Ricouer is in fact highly biblical-based and human-centered. In fact, the issues tackled by Figuring the Sacred: Religion, Narrative, and Imagination give the reader a sense that Ricouer is under much concretely terrible suffering.
1 It is my opinion that Ricouer remains alone in the field he has so bravely tackled alone. Although praise has been heaped upon him over and over again for his works, I cannot help but do the same now.Criticism of his ideas and efforts is impossible as works that can be scavenged just for the purpose of comparing Ricouer’s work with something else all seem mediocre and perhaps even laughable. The only true service that one can do for Ricouer is to engage his work in as heavy a discourse as he held others. I feel that it is only in this manner that readers can say they have truly understood Ricouer.
He truly is a genius and readers are lucky to have had the chance to catch a glimpse, through his works, of the greatness inside him.
