Contemporary Debates in Negative Theology and Philosophy (Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion)

"In this volume, scholars draw deeply on negative theology in order to consider some of the oldest questions in the philosophy of religion that stand as persistent challenges to inquiry, comprehension, and expression. The chapters engage different philosophical methodologies, cross disciplinary boundaries, and draw on varied cultural traditions in the effort to demonstrate that apophaticism can be a positive resource for contemporary philosophy of religion."-- Provided by publisher Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 Editors and Contributors 10 1 Introduction: Old Questions and New Frontiers in the Philosophy of Religion 16 Part I A Philosophy of the Unsayable: Interpretations and Consequences 30 2 A Philosophy of the Unsayable 31 3 Speaking About Silence (Sort of): When Does a Philosophy of the Unsayable Just Stop Being Philosophy? 37 4 William Franke and the Unfinished Philosophical Revolution of the West 53 Introduction 53 An Aristotelian Framework 54 Franke and Philosophical Tradition 56 (Un)Knowing: Then and Now 62 Conclusion: Where We Find Ourselves Lost 65 5 To Be and Not to Know, That Is the Question: Reading William Franke’s A Philosophy of the Unsayable 71 Opening Performance 71 Language and the Hegelian Pivot 73 From Opposition to Openness 76 Knowledge and Kenotic Receiving 78 Aphorisms of Apophasis, Hymn of Inconclusion 82 6 Is There a Logic of the Ineffable? Or, How Is it Possible to Talk About the Unsayable? 85 7 Betwixt and Amidst: Mixed Genres of Sophia 95 Introduction 95 Poetic Approaches (Reply to Sai Bhatawadekar) 96 Philosophy and Faith (Reply to W.C. Hackett) 101 On Generalizing Apophatics (Reply to Kevin Hart) 104 Analytical Philosophy and Apophasis (Reply to J. Aaron Simmons) 108 Synthetic Logic and Apophatics (Reply to Stephen Palmquist) 111 Conclusion 114 Part II Thinking the Apophatic: Hegel and Postmodernity 118 8 Is Hegel an Apophatic Thinker? 119 Introduction 119 Hegel and Negation 120 First Argument: Hegel on the True and the False 125 Second Argument: The Opening of the Logic as a Discourse About the Apophatic 127 Third Argument: Hegel on the Primacy of Contradiction 133 Infinite Interiority 136 9 Hegel and the Negation of the Apophatic 142 The Denying of Apophatics 145 The Re-Cognizing of Apophatics 151 The Generating of Apophatics 153 The Protecting of Apophatics 157 Conclusion: The Negating of the Apophatic 164 10 Infinite Reduplication: Kierkegaard’s Negative Concept of God 173 Kierkegaard After Eckhart and Hegel 175 God as Nothing 179 Divine Unknowability 181 The Impossibility of Intentionality 187 Kierkegaard’s Concept of God 190 11 Heidegger’s Apophaticism: Unsaying the Said and the Silence of the Last God 195 12 Irenic Ironic Unsayable: A Correlation of Franke and Wolfson 227 William Franke 229 Elliot R. Wolfson 235 Thomas J.J. Altizer 242 Unconcluding Postscript 244 13 The Apophatic Trace of Derrida and Zhuangzi 249 Introduction 249 Derrida and the Trace 250 Zhuangzi and the Non-Trace 257 Thinking Through Apophatic Thoughts 262 Conclusion 269 14 Apophatic Universalism East and West: Rethinking Universality Today in the Interstices Between Cultures 272 From the Globalism of Nature to the Universality of Thought 272 Historical Permutations of the Non-natural Universality Forged by Thought 280 Beyond Cultural Relativity and the Construction of Universality 286 Transcendent Universality and the Negative Way: Reclaiming the Enlightenment for Religion 292 Part III The Vanishing Point of the Apophatic in Poetry and Literature 302 15 Apophasis as a Means of Expressing Ecological Indeterminacy: Reading Modernist Poetry with William Franke’s A Philosophy of the Unsayable 303 Apophasis as Necessity: The Onto-Phenomenology of R.M. Rilke’s Poetry 306 Indeterminacy and Unknowability in the Poetry of W.B. Yeats 316 Unsayability and Participation in Being in the Poetry of Dylan Thomas 320 Conclusion 322 16 The Astonished Silencing of Things: The Hypothesis of an Apophatic Tautology in the Poetry of Fernando Pessoa’s Heteronym Alberto Caeiro 329 I 330 II 333 III 335 17 Unspeakable Trash: Heidegger, Philip K. Dick, and the Philosophy of Horror 347 Introduction 347 Material Indication 352 Novel Initiations 358 Kipple 361 From Rubbish to Redemption 366 Litterature 369 18 Concluding Essay: New Apophatic Paths in Current Critical Thinking 379 Reflecting Back Theologically on the Apophatic Path 390 Index 396 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Introduction: Old Questions and New Frontiers in the Philosophy of Religion (J. Aaron Simmons)....Pages 1-14 Front Matter ....Pages 15-15 A Philosophy of the Unsayable (Kevin Hart)....Pages 17-22 Speaking About Silence (Sort of): When Does a Philosophy of the Unsayable Just Stop Being Philosophy? (J. Aaron Simmons)....Pages 23-38 William Franke and the Unfinished Philosophical Revolution of the West (William C. Hackett)....Pages 39-56 To Be and Not to Know, That Is the Question: Reading William Franke’s A Philosophy of the Unsayable (Sai Bhatawadekar)....Pages 57-70 Is There a Logic of the Ineffable? Or, How Is it Possible to Talk About the Unsayable? (Stephen Palmquist)....Pages 71-80 Betwixt and Amidst: Mixed Genres of Sophia (William Franke)....Pages 81-103 Front Matter ....Pages 105-105 Is Hegel an Apophatic Thinker? (Nahum Brown)....Pages 107-129 Hegel and the Negation of the Apophatic (Andrew W. Hass)....Pages 131-161 Infinite Reduplication: Kierkegaard’s Negative Concept of God (Peter Kline)....Pages 163-184 Heidegger’s Apophaticism: Unsaying the Said and the Silence of the Last God (Elliot R. Wolfson)....Pages 185-216 Irenic Ironic Unsayable: A Correlation of Franke and Wolfson (Lissa McCullough)....Pages 217-238 The Apophatic Trace of Derrida and Zhuangzi (David Chai)....Pages 239-261 Apophatic Universalism East and West: Rethinking Universality Today in the Interstices Between Cultures (William Franke)....Pages 263-292 Front Matter ....Pages 293-293 Apophasis as a Means of Expressing Ecological Indeterminacy: Reading Modernist Poetry with William Franke’s A Philosophy of the Unsayable (Sabine Lenore Müller)....Pages 295-320 The Astonished Silencing of Things: The Hypothesis of an Apophatic Tautology in the Poetry of Fernando Pessoa’s Heteronym Alberto Caeiro (Bruno Béu)....Pages 321-338 Unspeakable Trash: Heidegger, Philip K. Dick, and the Philosophy of Horror (Anthony Curtis Adler)....Pages 339-370 Concluding Essay: New Apophatic Paths in Current Critical Thinking (William Franke)....Pages 371-387 Back Matter ....Pages 389-400 Annotation In this volume, scholars draw deeply on negative theology in order to consider some of the oldest questions in the philosophy of religion that stand as persistent challenges to inquiry, comprehension, and expression. The chapters engage different philosophical methodologies, cross disciplinary boundaries, and draw on varied cultural traditions in the effort to demonstrate that apophaticism can be a positive resource for contemporary philosophy of religion