The Divine’s Presence. Conditions for Interpretation in the Philosophy of Eric Voegelin

Tomasz  Niezgoda

Titles

Abstract

This text is dedicated to uncovering conditions for interpretation in the philosophy of Eric Voegelin. According to Voegelin, human existence is a matter of interpretation and its essence is constituted in tension towards the so-called divine ground of reality, i.e. nonobjective transcendence. I argue that the condition for any understanding of the human being, as well as the reorientation of human existence, is the divine presence dwelling in language, in history and in the subject itself. However, it is not a presence of some kind of object, content, or being –rather, it is a unpresentable ‘flow’or ‘flux’of presence, a flow that instils a primordial mobility in reality and orients man in his being.

* The article was written as part of the research project 2019/33/N/HS1/01868 “Filozofia religii Erica Voegelina – pomiędzy fenomenologiąa hermeneutyką”, financed by the Narodowe Centrum Nauki in Poland.

This text is dedicated to uncovering conditions for interpretation in the philosophy of Eric Voegelin. According to Voegelin, human existence is a matter of interpretation and its essence is constituted in tension towards the so-called divine ground of reality, i.e. nonobjective transcendence. I argue that the condition for any understanding of the human being, as well as the reorientation of human existence, is the divine presence dwelling in language, in history and in the subject itself. However, it is not a presence of some kind of object, content, or being –rather, it is a unpresentable ‘flow’or ‘flux’of presence, a flow that instils a primordial mobility in reality and orients man in his being.

* The article was written as part of the research project 2019/33/N/HS1/01868 “Filozofia religii Erica Voegelina – pomiędzy fenomenologiąa hermeneutyką”, financed by the Narodowe Centrum Nauki in Poland.

Keywords

Eric Voegelin, hermeneutics, the divine’s presence, transcendence, interpretation; Eric Voegelin, hermeneutyka, boska obecność, transcendencja, interpretacja

Eric Voegelin, hermeneutics, the divine’s presence, transcendence, interpretation

References

Hallowell J., Existence in Tension: Man in Search for his Humanity, [in:] Eric Voegelin’s Search for Order in History. Expanded Edition, S. McKnight (ed.), Lanham 1987, pp. 101–126.

Havard W.C., Voegelin’s Changing Conception of History and Consciousness, [in:] Eric Voegelin’s Search for Order in History. Expanded Edition, S. McKnight (ed.), Lanham 1987, pp. 1–25.

Keulman K., The Tension of Consciousness: The Pneumatic Differentiation, [in:] Voegelin and the Theologian. Ten Studies in Interpretation, J. Kirby, W.M. Thompson (eds.), New York–Toronto 1983, pp. 61–102.

Lawrence F., Voegelin and Theology as Hermeneutical and Political, [in:] Voegelin and the Theologian. Ten Studies in Interpretation, J. Kirby, W.M. Thompson (eds.), New York–Toronto 1983, pp. 314–355.

Morrisey M.P., Consciousness and Transcendence: The Theology of Eric Voegelin, London 1994. Voegelin E., Anxiety and Reason, [in:] What is History? And Other Late Unpublished Writings, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 52–110.

Voegelin E., Configurations of History, [in:] Published Essays: 1966–1985, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 95–114.

Voegelin E., Eternal Being in Time, [in:] Anamnesis. On the Theory of History and Politics, Columbia 2002, pp. 312–340.

Voegelin E., Immortality: Experience and Symbol, [in:] Published Essays: 1966–1985, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 52–94.

Voegelin E., Order and History IV. The Ecumenic Age, Columbia 2000.

Voegelin E., Reason: The Classic Experience, [in:] Published Essays: 1966–1985, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 265–291.

Voegelin E., Structures of Consciousness, [in:] The Drama of Humanity and Other Miscellaneous Papers 1939–1985, Columbia–London 2004, pp. 351–383.

Voegelin E., The Beginning and the Beyond. A Meditation on Truth, [in:] What is History? And Other Late Unpublished Writings, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 173–232.

Voegelin E., The Gospel and Culture, [in:] Published Essays: 1966–1985, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 172–212.

Voegelin E., What is History?, [in:] What is History? And Other Late Unpublished Writings, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 1–51.

Voegelin E., What is Political Reality?, [in:] Anamnesis. On the Theory of History and Politics, Columbia 2002, pp. 341–412.

Voegelin E., Wisdom and the Magic of Extreme, [in:] Published Essays 1966–1985, Baton Roque 1990, pp. 315–375.

Wiser J., Philosophy as Inquiry and Persuasion, [in:] Eric Voegelin’s Search for Order in History. Expanded Edition, S. McKnight (ed.), Lanham 1987, pp. 127–138.

Information

Information: Studia Religiologica, 2022, Volume 55 Issue 1, pp. 85 - 102

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/20844077SR.22.006.16560

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

The Divine’s Presence. Conditions for Interpretation in the Philosophy of Eric Voegelin

English:

The Divine’s Presence. Conditions for Interpretation in the Philosophy of Eric Voegelin

Authors

Tomasz Niezgoda

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9453-3566

Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Gołębia 24, 31-007 Kraków, Poland

Published at: 2022

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY

Percentage share of authors:

Tomasz Niezgoda (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English

View count: 513

Number of downloads: 399

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