De Nys, Martin J.: Considering Transcendence: Elements of a Philosophical Theology.

Weigel, Peter

DE NYS, Martin J. Considering Transcendence: Elements of a Philosophical Theology. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2009. x + 176 pp. Cloth, $65.00; Paper, $24.95--Does religion have a nature? Considering Transcendence offers a phenomenological account of the identity belonging to religion and a religious orientation towards reality (pp. 3-4, 67). It additionally examines how varying traditions might mediate religious truth. Hegel and Husserl inspire much of the method; Kierkegaard, Ricoeur, Plantinga, Hick, and others inspire the content (p. 6).

The opening three chapters explore the identity of religion using the concepts of sacred transcendence, religious discourse, and radical self-transcendence. The scope and method receive careful introduction. Chapter 1 explains sacred transcendence as any reality "other than anything else that is in any other way other than ourselves" and so constitutes ultimate being, power, and goodness (p. 20). Transcendent reality offers the self salvation which overcomes our "estrangement from sacred transcendence" and also mitigates human limitations, or "limit situations," such as temporality, mortality, imbalance, loss, and guilt (p. 27). The self faces a fundamental option to make this sacred transcendence its absolute goal. A discernibly Christian sensibility enters the background early on, although other traditions are conscientiously mentioned. Some readers will want greater attention to a range of traditions, while others will not think it crucial.

Chapter 2 on "Religious Discourse" invokes Ricoeur on the centrality of symbols in communication with, from, or about the transcendent. Concepts about the sacred are not univocal, since they derive from the world. So religious discourse is irreducibly "poetic" in carrying multiple levels of meaning, and proposing a world of possibilities for overcoming estrangement from transcendence (pp. 44-46).

Chapter 3 proposes that religion is ultimately about radical self-transcendence. This is when sacred transcendence becomes an "absolute telos" pursued for its own sake and for nothing in return (pp. 54, 60). Authentic religion calls for completely self-abnegating love of the transcendent. More could be said why this is and specifically how it works. Only radical self-transcendence, moreover, offers "hope for salvation" from our limits and helps us strive "to surpass self-interest" (p. 72). Without these conditions, the author argues in chapter 4, religion would encompass obviously heterogeneous forms of life (pp. 72-73). Perhaps some devotions fitting this scheme are not clearly religious to everyone, such as Platonic love of the good. Conversely, maybe not all things some call a religion fit these conditions. The author concedes there are ambiguous cases (p. 73). A closer look at borderline examples here might have sharpened his account and anticipated criticisms.

Belief raises issues of truth and justification. Chapter 5, "Religious Truth," draws heavily from John Hick and Alvin Plantinga. Justification for religious belief occurs when the believer experiences radical self-transcendence as a real possibility (pp. 89-90). The believer inwardly experiences a presence or call where "an absolute telos draws one to itself" (p. 93), and one seeming to experience the deep presence of God "is well entitled to that supposition" (p. 127). But such private experiential grounds oddly could seem to justify patently delusional or destructive beliefs, such as newspapers relate. Readers favoring more objective, evidentialist accounts of justification in religious belief will pose their own questions in this chapter.

Chapter 6, "Pluralism and Religious Truth," considers that "the real possibility of radical self-transcendence ... can belong to many highly diverse religious forms" (p. 107). Varying traditions can present radical self-transcendence as an option, and perhaps even mediate the authentic presence of the divine, while each differently conceives it. A plurality of traditions, each conveying "the possibility of radical self-transcendence. .. can [to that extent] each convey religious truth" (p. 107). De Nys considers that perhaps only one religion has authentic revelation, or, perhaps persons are only saved by the grace of Christ, which arrives unbidden and unknown in many. This theological turn continues in chapter 7 where the author uses Aquinas to consider how God is profoundly immanent to all creatures as their first principle; yet God as transcendent is also "unqualifiedly self-determining" (p. 134). Consequently, Aquinas denying a real relation from God to creatures means God is not beholden to them, not that God is indifferent.

Chapter 8 concludes the work with remarks on religious ethics. Theoretical conceptions of God must stay grounded in religions practices and those "religious discourses in which conceptions of God originate" (p. 142). A relationship with God informs one's responsibilities to others, including participation in the political and social orders.

Seeking the heart of religion is a bold and difficult undertaking. Those with an analytic background will want clearer prose and less iteration. Key positions often could benefit from more attention to potential criticisms. Still, the author sustains an admirably creative and systematic response to the endeavor. Readers interested in religious experience will profit from following along with him.--Peter Weigel, Washington College, Md.