Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Incarnation: Incarnation is the act of becoming flesh or assuming a human form. It is a religious concept that is central to Christianity. See also Christianity, Religious belief._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Hans-Georg Gadamer on Incarnation - Dictionary of Arguments
I 422 Incarnation/Christianity/Language/Gadamer: There is (...) a thought which is not a Greek thought and which does better justice to the being of language, so that the language-forgetfulness of Western thinking cannot become a complete one. It is the Christian thought of incarnation. Cf. >Language and Thought/Ancient Philosophy. Incarnation is obviously not "Einkörperung" (English, literally: process of becoming subsumed into a body, embodimet). Neither the concept of the soul nor the concept of God, which are connected with such a "Einkörperung", correspond to the Christian concept of incarnation. The relationship between soul and body, as it is thought in these theories, such as in Platonic-Pythagorean philosophy, and corresponds to the religious idea of the transmigration of souls, sets rather the complete otherness of the soul in relation to the body. In all "Einkörperungen" it retains its being for itself, and the detachment from the body is regarded as purification, i.e. as restoration of its true and actual being. Also the appearance of the divine in human form, which makes the Greek religion so human has nothing to do with incarnation. God does not become a human there, but shows himself to man in human form, while at the same time retaining his superhuman form completely. In contrast to this, the incarnation of God, as taught by the Christian religion, includes the sacrifice that the Crucified One, as the Son of Man, takes upon himself, but that is to say, a mysteriously different relationship, the theological interpretation of which takes place in the doctrine of the Trinity. >Trinity/Gadamer. I 423 Gadamer: [The incarnation is closely connected with the] problem of the word. The interpretation of the mystery of the Trinity, probably the most important task facing the thinking of the Christian Middle Ages, is already in the Fathers and finally in the systematic development of Augustinism in the university scholasticism based on the human relationship between speaking and thinking. Dogmatics thus follows above all the prologue of John's Gospel, and as much as it is Greek means of thinking with which it tries to solve its own theological task, philosophical thinking gains through it a dimension closed to Greek thinking. When the word becomes flesh and only in this incarnation is the reality of the Spirit completed, the logos is thus freed from its spirituality, which at the same time signifies his cosmic potentiality. The uniqueness of the event of redemption brings about the entry of the historical being into Western thinking and also causes the phenomenon of language to emerge from its immersion in the ideality of the sense and to present itself to philosophical reflection. For unlike the Greek logos, the word is pure event (verbum proprie dicitur personaliter tantum)(1). >Word of God. Already the way, how in Patristics theological speculation about the mystery of the Incarnation is connected to Hellenistic thinking, is characteristic of the new dimension at which it aims. Thus, at the beginning, one tries to make use of the stoic concept of the inner and the outer logos (logos endiathetos - prophorikos)(2). This distinction was originally intended to distinguish the stoic world principle of the logos from the outwardness of mere repetition(3). For the Christian faith of revelation, the opposite direction now immediately becomes of positive importance. The analogy of the inner and outer word, the utterance of the word in the "vox", now gains exemplary value. >Word/Gadamer, >Word/Ancient Philosophy. 1. Thomas I. qu 34 2. In the following I refer to the teaching article "Verbe" in the Dictionnaire de Théologie catholique, as well as to Lebreton, Histoire du dogme de la Trinité. 3. Die Papageien: Sext. adv. math. V Ill, 275._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gadamer I Hans-Georg Gadamer Wahrheit und Methode. Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik 7. durchgesehene Auflage Tübingen 1960/2010 Gadamer II H. G. Gadamer The Relevance of the Beautiful, London 1986 German Edition: Die Aktualität des Schönen: Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest Stuttgart 1977 |
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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-19