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An Interview with Richard Kearney “Facing God” Liam Kavanagh scientific reason from faith, and Heidegger’s subsequent separation of phenomenology and theology (in his famous 1927 lecture), there is a very strong scruple in contemporary continental thought about Volume 1, Issue 2 | Spring 2004 keeping the two disciplines apart. Of course there are those like Levinas An Interview With Richard and Ricoeur who try to blur the boundaries a little bit, though it seems to me they usually Kearney do so apologetically. Levinas, for example, “Facing God” will claim no longer to be engaged in Liam Kavanagh phenomenology, but Talmudic studies, when Journal of Philosophy and Scripture he raises questions about God. But I think it is evident that Judaism deeply informs his JPS: The very title of the conference work, especially when he speaks of series that has brought us together today, eschatology or messianism or the stranger in namely “Religion and Postmodernism,” Totality and Infinity and other philosophical raises the question of the possibility of a texts. Similarly Ricoeur, in Thinking productive exchange between religious Biblically and other religious works, will and philosophical narratives. What claim to be engaged in scriptural exegesis or benefits do you think might follow for biblical studies, rather than philosophy per religious discourse from bringing se. Now I tend to be a little bit less philosophically orientated perspectives to scrupulous, less worried about the blurring. bear on the reading of scripture? So for instance in The God Who May Be, I Similarly, what benefits do you think don’t have a huge problem about saying, might follow for philosophy from direct “let’s do a hermeneutics of religion.” Now it exposure to and engagement with is a hermeneutics of religion, it is a religious texts? philosophy. A philosophy that analyses— without theological pretensions or expertise RK: Well I think it is crucial to maintain an —certain scriptural texts. In the case of The exchange between the two disciplines. The God Who May Be, these include Exodus whole rational, conceptual, metaphysical 3:14, the transfiguration on Mt. Thabor, the heritage of Greek philosophy meeting with Annunciation, the Song of Songs etc. the biblical monotheisms and revelation can I am however, leaving aside the specifically be extremely creative. Indeed, I think our historical context of these texts—questions entire Western heritage consists of an of the historical Jesus, whether the intermingling of and between these two Shulomite women ever did exist or not, genres of thought, the philosophical and the whether the Song of Songs is a Babylonian religious, or the philosophical and the or Jewish text, whether there are Greek biblical. But as you know, it is precisely the influences etc. These are fascinating idea of a decisive breach between the two questions, but they are not my questions. I discourses, particularly since Kant and the am not an expert in the whole theological Enlightenment, that has significantly discourse about these passages, but I feel determined much of the development of our quite free to engage in a poetics and a philosophical tradition. In the twentieth hermeneutics of scriptural passages as texts, century, this conviction was repeated in without necessarily saying that these have a Husserl’s and Heidegger’s bracketing out of privilege with regard to the revelation of theology and revelation, as one of those truth. That question I am bracketing. So presuppositions that we should suspend as although I cannot claim theological we do phenomenological philosophy. So expertise in this discourse, this tradition is both in the Enlightenment separation of nonetheless my tradition, it is my set of Journal of Philosophy and Scripture Vol. 1 Issue 2, page 17 Richard Kearney Facing God narratives. It is also my faith—my heritage, philosophical and theological traditions of and therefore I know it better than say, the West? And Secondly, what significant Hinduism or Buddhism, or other religious similarities and differences do you think traditions that talk about God. So it makes distinguish your position from that of eminent sense for me to take that liberty. If I Jacques Derrida’s appeal to “Jewgreek is had more expertise in Sanskrit or Japanese, greekjew,” in ‘Violence and then maybe I would feel more competent to Metaphysics?’ comment on other traditions, even if they are not mine. I would certainly be open to RK: The standard translation of the Exodus dialoging with them. 3.14 passage “’ehyeh, ’asher ’ehyeh” is “I Therefore, it seems to me that to cut off am who am,” in latin “Ego sum qui sum,” all dialogue between philosophy and these and there is a long history of interpretation wisdom traditions, including the biblical, is of this text from Philo to Augustine to actually cutting off your nose to spite your Aquinas and the Scholastics and so on. The face. I think it’s lopping off too much. I can most commonly agreed reading is that it is fully understand how the Enlightenment, an ontological self-definition of God: I am given the invasion of philosophical who am. Now as a tautological pun that is discourse by church authorities during interesting. It could be a way of saying, “I’m scholasticism and the medieval inquisitions not telling you who I am. I am who am.” So (and the ensuing burnings and the repetition could be seen as a rhetorical condemnations), would say “faith take a step deflection of the answer, of any easy back” or “theology take a back seat.” So answer. “You are not going to get hold of whether it is the separation of faith and me!” Well if that is true, then it is even more reason to preserve faith, as in the case of fitting that we translate the phrase as Martin Kant—who set the limits of reason in order Buber and Rashi, the medieval Jewish to make way for faith—or whether it is to commentator, and others have done, as “I preserve reason, as in the case of the am who shall be,” or “I am who will be,” or philosophical Enlightenment, I understand “I am who may be.” In doing so, one where that is coming from. However, I think restores the element of promissory note, and in so called postmodern discourse, with also the conditional nature of God’s which I have some concerns to which we manifestation in the world. “I am who may can return, we have made some progress in be, i.e. I am unconditionally the promise of this regard, namely, the ability to engage in the kingdom, I am unconditionally love, the interdisciplinary dialogue. I strongly call, invitation, and solicitation, but I can advocate such interdisciplinary exchange, only be God, God in the flesh, God in and not just between philosophy and history, God in matter, if you are my religion, but also between philosophy, witnesses,” to quote Isaiah. religion, science, literature and other Furthermore, Hebrew scholars like Buber, disciplines. I would call it a “creative Rosenzweig and Rashi, point out that in the confusion” to borrow from Edward Said. A Hebrew, the verb “’ehyeh ’asher” actually creative confusion of disciplines, while also has a conditional, subjunctive, futural mode. respecting the genre limits of each one. So In German it is translated as “werden.” So, it’s a delicate balance. on this reading, God says: “I am who becomes. I am who will be, may be, shall JPS: In a provocative reading of Exodus be. If you listen to what I am saying, you 3.14 from The God Who May Be, you will go back and liberate your people, and identify a “seismic shift” occurring at the you will lead them into a new relationship “chiasmus where ’ehyeh meets einai.” 1 with Egypt and the Word. But if you don’t What constitutive roles do you think these do that, and you think that you posses Me, formative readings have played in the then you’ve only got an ontological formula of Me as totality, self-sameness, self-love, Journal of Philosophy and Scripture Vol. 1 Issue 2, page 18 Richard Kearney Facing God self causing cause, self loving love, self is Isaiah and Joseph and Jesus, and it is that thinking thought. You attach all that Greek whole world of embodiment and metaphysical stuff to Me. That’s being enfleshment, which I think is sometimes unfair to Me, and unfair to Aristotle, lacking in Derrida’s notion of the Messianic, because Aristotle wasn’t talking about Me. which for me is too formal, too quasi- He was talking about a certain notion of transcendental, too abstract—although I form and causality which to his mind was have huge respect for what he is doing. So I divine. But he is coming from a different would try to give the “Jew” back more body tradition, a different way of thinking, a than Derrida perhaps, who “rightly passes metaphysical way, and I respect that. But I, for an atheist”. Though he does call himself Yahweh, am giving you a different message. the “last of the Jews” (le dernier Jude) in Maybe I can enter into dialogue with Circumfession… Aristotle’s God and the God of the philosophers, but don’t think you can easily JPS: Could you say you rightly pass for collapse the two, one into the other.” So by an atheist? not going with the standard orthodox translation of “I am who am,” which can RK: … No. I would say the opposite—that I lead to the notion of a God of totality, and rightly pass for a theist! Derrida admits in instead choosing the hermeneutic wager that the phrase a certain ambiguity about “rightly “I am who may be,” we open up that space passing for…” He seems to be saying, for a different inflection in the biblical “that’s how people understand me and I notion of deity.
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