Articles varia
- ROGNON Frédéric - Pacifisme et tyrannicide chez Jean Lasserre et Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Seconde partie : L’interprétation des incidences théologiques
- ABEL Oliver - Sens et non-sens de la peine
- DUFLO Colas - Montesquieu, une science politique des religions
- GAGNEBIN Jeanne Marie - Entre le rêve et la veille : Qui suis-je ?
- EBERHARD Philippe - Comprendre c’est être compris, croire aussi : Variations théologiques sur un thème herméneutique
- HENRY Martin - Mysticisme et christianisme
After having gone through the interrelated biographies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jean Lasserre in part I of his essay (see ETR 2005/1), Frédéric Rognon examines in the second part the influence they had on each other from a theological point of view. He suggests that a distinct assumption of the sacrificial utopia leads them to develop a different approach of tyrannicide, the very concept of tyrannicide being rather paradoxical in the context of a theology of non-violence.
The different ways of punishment are nothing but « concentrates » of culture archaic sometimes that must be used very carefully and with high critical concern because a sentence is always felt as nonsensical. If judges sentence people without feeling mandatory to explain the sentence so that it can be accepted, the denial of responsibility comes into general use. Acknowledging this as a starting point of his reflection, Olivier Abel suggests that the sentence itself « takes time » as though some work had to be accomplished on the side of the victim waiting for the offence to be made up for as well as on the side of the prisoner trying to make sense of it and leading him to some new interpretation of his self, provided that this time makes a difference.
In his major work, Esprit des lois (books XXIV and XXV), Montesquieu analyses religion as an element of the political reality whose underlying rationality he is looking for. In his essay, Colas Duflo examines the epistemological and political factors implied in these pages by describing their controversial original context and their consequences on the political philosophy of his time.
Jeanne Marie Gagnebin proposes a criss-cross reading of the opening pages of two major French works in literature and philosophy, namely Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu and René Descartes’s Méditations métaphysiques. The spiritual relationship of these two texts unveils the assertion of the subjective existence through the same process of meditation, but they are also different as Proust values distraction and dispersion whereas Descartes favours concentration and introspection. According to the author, this gap is where contemporary reflection about subjective identity must start up.
Based on the middle voice and philosophical hermeneutics, Philippe Eberhard’s essay proposes an understanding of faith that goes beyond the active quest of faith as something to be had and the passive trust that faith only comes from God. First, it deals with the medial meaning of the notion of play in Truth and Method by Hans-Georg Gadamer and the peculiar objectivity that results from philosophical hermeneutics. Second, it briefly examines the middle voice as hermeneutic key. Third and last, it offers theological reflections concerning faith as a medial event.
Recounting the major stages of Christian mysticism throughout history, Martin Henry shows that Christianity is neither hostile nor alien to mysticism ; nor it is reducible to it. Christian mysticism is characterised by its awareness of a gap that cannot be filled between history and Second Coming, that is to say our present condition and our fulfilment.
Notules et Péricopes
- MIRGUET Françoise - Essai d’interprétation de Lévitique 10. Le bouc brûlé et non mangé
- KONTZI-MERESSE Nicola - Le silence des femmes dans l’assemblée. Réflexion autour de 1 Corinthiens 14, 34-35
By analysing the story of Leviticus 10, and in particular that of the tragic death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-2), Françoise Mirguet offers her interpretation of the whole chapter, relating the opening scene to the following prescriptions and reproaches uttered by Moses. She also examines the relationship between this episode and that of the molten calf (Exodus 32) in order to propose the hypothesis of a global interpretation of the two stories.
Could Paul’s speech about women (in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35) be read differently from the usual patriarchal viewpoint ? By examining Paul’s utterance in the larger context of verses 20-40, Nicola Kontzi-Méresse argues that the order to be silent has a theological and spiritual relevance that can be separated from the theme of female submission.