The Manifest and the Revealed: A Phenomenology of Kenōsis

Offers a new phenomenological method for biblical interpretation that opens up the possibility of an absolute science of scripture. What is scripture and how does it function? Is there a “scientific” way to understand its meaning? In answer, Adam Wells proposes a phenomenological approach to scripture that radicalizes both phenomenology and its relation to Christianity. By reading the “kenōsis hymn” (Philippians 2:5–11) alongside the work of Edmund Husserl, Wells develops a kenotic reduction that rehabilitates the Husserlian idea of “absolute science” while also disclosing the radical philosophical implications of Paul’s “new creation.” More broadly, The Manifest and the Revealed pushes the fields of phenomenology and biblical studies forward. The turn to scripture, as a source for theological and philosophical reflection, marks an important advance for the recent “theological turn” in phenomenology. At the same time, by bringing to light the incredible complexity of scripture, phenomenology provides a ay for contemporary biblical studies to exceed its own limits. Wells demonstrates how phenomenology and scripture ultimately illuminate one another in profound and surprising ways. Adam Y. Wells is Assistant Professor of Religion at Emory & Henry College and the editor of Phenomenologies of Scripture. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Foreword 12 Introduction: On Husserl’s Dream 18 Part I: Theoretical Considerations: Phenomenology as an Absolute Science of Scripture 22 Introduction to Part I 24 Chapter 1 Phenomenology and Science in Husserl’s Early Work 26 A. Philosophy of Arithmetic and Logical Investigations 26 B. Ideas I 34 Chapter 2 The Genetic Transformation of Absolute Science 44 A. Cartesian Meditations and Formal and Transcendental Logic 44 B. The Crisis 48 C. The Reduction from Givenness to Pre-givenness 56 Chapter 3 Phenomenology as Self-Referential Science 68 A. The Fracturing of Transcendental Subjectivity 69 B. Mundane Science and Phenomenology 76 C. Absolute Science as Self-Referential Science 82 Conclusion to Part I: Phenomenology Ex Vivo 90 Part II: Absolute Science in Practice: The Kenotic Reduction 92 Introduction to Part II 94 Chapter 4 The Life and Times of Philippians 2:5-11 96 A. The Hymn’s Purpose 97 B. Christ’s Equality with God 102 C. Kenosis and Exaltation: Feminist Readings 106 D. Conclusion 112 Chapter 5 Kenosis and Phenomenological Reduction 114 A. A Brief Aside: What Does it Mean to Read Phenomenologically? 114 B. The Evolution of the Phenomenological Reduction 115 C. The Initial Hypothesis: The Kenosis Hymn as a Reduction from Cosmos to Creation 121 D. Love and Power: Refining the Initial Hypothesis after the Kenotic Reduction 125 E. Ramifications of the Kenotic Reduction for Scriptural Studies 130 F. Ramifications of the Kenotic Reduction for Phenomenology 132 Chapter 6 Kenotic Time: Husserl and Apocalyptic Eschatology 136 A. Apocalypses and Apocalyptic Eschatology 136 B. Husserlian Options for Characterizing Kenotic Time 141 Chapter 7 Radicalizing Husserlian Temporality: Anticipation, Depresencing, and Represencing 150 A. The Phenomenality of Anticipation 151 B. Time as Depresencing 156 C. Kenotic Time as Eschatological Horizon: The Represencing of God 161 Conclusion 166 A. Précis 166 B. Absolute Science and Biblical Criticism 167 C. Absolute Science and Husserlian Phenomenology 172 D. Absolute Science and Christianity 174 Notes 176 Bibliography 196 Index 204