Creation and the Transcategorial Phenomenal
David Cheetham
Creation and Religious Pluralism August 20, 2020 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198856665.003.0002 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that ineffability in pluralist thought may function mainly as a formal category of ultimacy, and proposes, drawing on Marion's phenomenology of givenness and excess, an alternative account of 'the Real' as the 'transcategorial phenomenal' experienced in the event of interreligious encounter. |
Abstract
Abstract This chapter considers the concept of ineffability. Has this concept been monopolized by pluralists who use it to provide an object that is sufficiently mystical and unfathomable to accommodate religious differences? Does the ineffable do any work in their systems other than provide a formal category of ultimacy? The chapter seeks to investigate this by evaluating the use of ineffability, or the transcategorial, by advocates of the pluralist view of religions. In the second part, the chapter seeks to bring the analytic tradition into dialogue with the phenomenological tradition and particularly with the work of Jean-Luc Marion. Marion highlights the given-ness or excess of experiences that do not rely on metaphysical grounds. The chapter suggests an alternative account of ‘the Real’ as an experience of excess (the ‘transcategorial phenomenal’) that takes place in the midst of the event of interreligious encounter. ‘The Real’ from the ground-up.