Books by Bradley Onishi
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Through a bold and historically rooted vision for the theory and method of philosophy of religion... more Through a bold and historically rooted vision for the theory and method of philosophy of religion, The Sacrality of the Secular maps new and compelling possibilities for a nonsecularist secularity. In recent decades, philosophers in the continental tradition have taken a notable interest in the return of religion, a departure from the supposedly secular period spanning from the Enlightenment to existentialism. At the same time, anthropologists and sociologists of religion have rejected the once-dominant secularization thesis, which both prescribed and described the demise of religion in modern societies.
In The Sacrality of the Secular, Bradley B. Onishi connects these lines of thought to reconsider the role of philosophy of religion in an age whose secularity is more ambiguous than it might seem. He demonstrates that philosophys entanglement with religion has led, perhaps counterintuitively, to vibrant reconceptions of the secular. Through rich readings of Heidegger, Bataille, and others, he shows that the tradition drew on religious phenomena as resources for conceiving the secular well before the unraveling of the secularization thesis or the turn to religion. Onishi traces the legacy of religion and postmodernism, considering Mark Taylor and other contemporary North American figures to rethink what the philosophy of religion contributes to the academic study of religion. Through critical analysis of the ideological foundations of secularism and Max Webers notion of the disenchantment of the world, Onishi reveals how continental philosophys religious investigations have enabled critical reflections on the category of the secular.
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In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries secular French scholars started re-engaging with ... more In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries secular French scholars started re-engaging with religious ideas, particularly mystical ones. Mysticism in the French Tradition introduces key philosophical undercurrents and trajectories in French thought that underpin and arise from this engagement, as well as considering earlier French contribitions to the development of mysticism. Filling a gap in the literature, the book offers critical reflections on French scholarship in terms of its engagement with its mystical and apophatic dimensions.
A multiplicity of factors converge to shape these encounters with mystical theology: feminist, devotional and philosophical treatments as well as literary, historical, and artistic approaches. The essays draw these into conversation. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary range of contributions from both new and established scholars, this book provides access to the melting pot out of which the mystical tradition in France erupted in the twenty-first century, and from which it continues to challenge theology today.
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Papers by Bradley Onishi
In Secular Writing, The American Book Review 39:5.
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Introduction to Emmanuel Falque's The Loving Struggle.
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I examine what I call Eckhart’s doctrine of indistinction as a precursor to Heidegger’s approach ... more I examine what I call Eckhart’s doctrine of indistinction as a precursor to Heidegger’s approach to the worldhood of the world. Taking cues from textual evidence in various sections of Heidegger’s texts and lecture courses, I demonstrate that Heidegger’s ontology is at least partially inherited from Eckhart’s henology. As a result, there is an analogous logic of indistinction operative in Eckhart’s understanding of the relationship between God and creation, and the inseparability of Dasein and the world in Heidegger’s phenomenology. I conclude by suggesting that Heidegger’s reading of Eckhart is a microcosm of the relationship between continental philosophy and religion, because it demonstrates that turning one’s eyes to the logics of a different cosmology, anthropology, or ontology, may permit the eyes to see more fully what is at play in one’s own approach to the human, the world, and the relationship between them. In other words, the secular often illuminates theological blind spots, just as the theological has the power to transform, enlarge, or supplement the secular view of the consciously secular thinker, without converting philosophy to theology or vice versa.
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While debates about whether or not Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology − along with the ‘theological ... more While debates about whether or not Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology − along with the ‘theological turn in French phenomenology’ more broadly − has illegitimately introduced theological elements into the philosophical arena, scant attention has been paid to its import for philosophical approaches to secularity. In this article I argue that Marion’s rendering of saturated phenomena has been adapted by his translator Jeffrey Kosky in order to formulate an ‘enchanted secularity’ in the face of the disenchantment of the world proclaimed by Max Weber and his heirs. While not ignoring debates about the limits and scope of phenomenology, I maintain that it is important to notice how Kosky’s secular rendering of saturation opens up new vistas for the application of Marion’s phenomenology. Recently Marion has confirmed that his third phenomenological reduction is meant to complement a robust Barthian theology of revelation. However, Kosky has appropriated Marion’s approach to saturation in order to give an account of secularity that reveals a world beset by uncertainty and unknowability. Kosky’s engagement with Marion is significant for how it decouples saturation from revelation, thereby incorporating key elements from Marion’s work without having to adopt its more controversial − and less tenable − components.
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In 2013, the first reader of Jean-Luc Marion’s works appeared, Jean-LucMarion: The Essential Writ... more In 2013, the first reader of Jean-Luc Marion’s works appeared, Jean-LucMarion: The Essential Writings, meticulously edited by his friend and colleague KevinHart. Yet, if the appearance of volume marked Marion’s status as France’s mostinfluential living philosopher, Hart’s Kingdoms of God marks the beginning of asystematic theology long in the making. In addition to serving as the prologemenonto his planned systematics, the work also serves to differentiate Hart’s phenomenolog-ical theology from Marion’s phenomenology of revelation and doctrine of revelationthrough the rendering of what Hart calls the basilaic reduction, on the basis of whichHart builds a twofold theological criticism of Marion. He first criticizes Marion’s claimthat revelation can gain phenomenological status like ordinary phenomena, and secondcontests the notion that revelation is always characterized by a saturation that bedazzlesits receiver. I explore each thinker’s approach to the relationship between philosophyand theology, using their engagements with the works of Jacques Derrida and KarlBarth as points of comparison in order to contextualize Hart’s theological criticisms ofMarion. I conclude by arguing that Hart’s, rather than Marion’s, approach to therelationship between philosophy and theology corresponds to the core concerns ofthe second generation of the Btheological turn^ of French phenomenology.
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Sophia, 2011
Discussion of the posthuman has emerged in a wide set of fields through a diverse set of thinkers... more Discussion of the posthuman has emerged in a wide set of fields through a diverse set of thinkers including Donna Haraway, Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, N. Katherine Hayles, and Francis Fukuyama, just to name a few. Despite his extensive critique of technology, commentators have not explored the fruitfulness of Heidegger's work for deciphering the various strands of posthumanism recently formulated in response to contemporary technological developments. Here, I employ Heidegger's critique of technology to trace opposing visions of the posthuman, visions that are both tied intimately to new information technologies. For those seeking to extend humanist ideals, information technologies are employed to extend the vision of an ultra-humanist view of a ‘scientific posthuman’ that dangerously understands the body to be a forfeitable nuisance, rather than an inherent aspect of being human. Along Heideggerian lines, thinkers such as N. Katherine Hayles and Thomas Carlson have developed an alternative trajectory related to Dasein's Being-in-the-world. This trajectory posits the self as constituted by a lack or abyss, enabling the formulation of a ‘mystical posthuman,’ celebrating, rather than forfeiting, humanity's embodied existence.
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Thesis Chapters by Bradley Onishi
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Book Reviews by Bradley Onishi
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Special Projects by Bradley Onishi
This is an announcement for a forthcoming special issue of Religions. Please also see our webpage... more This is an announcement for a forthcoming special issue of Religions. Please also see our webpage for more details: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/transcendence_and_eschatology
This special issue of the journal, Religions, seeks to explore the connections between eschatology and transcendence within contemporary philosophical-theological debates. This issue will inquire into the convergence or interrelation between the concepts of transcendence and eschatology and how they have developed within contemporary, primarily Continental, thought. On the one hand, thinkers within a hermeneutical-phenomenological context have made a theological turn to re-evaluate concepts of transcendence after the critique of metaphysics. On the other, political philosophers have explored how eschatology(-ies) undergird societal structures that situate the self into a larger, historical context. Within the former discussion, concepts such as radical transcendence and immanent transcendence – or even a so-called end to transcendence – have arisen as possible reorientations after onto-theology. Within the latter, the eschatological promise of the impossible becoming possible, or an end to history, have arisen as motivating principles behind the foundational intuitions and concepts in society.
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Books by Bradley Onishi
In The Sacrality of the Secular, Bradley B. Onishi connects these lines of thought to reconsider the role of philosophy of religion in an age whose secularity is more ambiguous than it might seem. He demonstrates that philosophys entanglement with religion has led, perhaps counterintuitively, to vibrant reconceptions of the secular. Through rich readings of Heidegger, Bataille, and others, he shows that the tradition drew on religious phenomena as resources for conceiving the secular well before the unraveling of the secularization thesis or the turn to religion. Onishi traces the legacy of religion and postmodernism, considering Mark Taylor and other contemporary North American figures to rethink what the philosophy of religion contributes to the academic study of religion. Through critical analysis of the ideological foundations of secularism and Max Webers notion of the disenchantment of the world, Onishi reveals how continental philosophys religious investigations have enabled critical reflections on the category of the secular.
A multiplicity of factors converge to shape these encounters with mystical theology: feminist, devotional and philosophical treatments as well as literary, historical, and artistic approaches. The essays draw these into conversation. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary range of contributions from both new and established scholars, this book provides access to the melting pot out of which the mystical tradition in France erupted in the twenty-first century, and from which it continues to challenge theology today.
Papers by Bradley Onishi
Thesis Chapters by Bradley Onishi
Popular Articles by Bradley Onishi
Book Reviews by Bradley Onishi
Special Projects by Bradley Onishi
This special issue of the journal, Religions, seeks to explore the connections between eschatology and transcendence within contemporary philosophical-theological debates. This issue will inquire into the convergence or interrelation between the concepts of transcendence and eschatology and how they have developed within contemporary, primarily Continental, thought. On the one hand, thinkers within a hermeneutical-phenomenological context have made a theological turn to re-evaluate concepts of transcendence after the critique of metaphysics. On the other, political philosophers have explored how eschatology(-ies) undergird societal structures that situate the self into a larger, historical context. Within the former discussion, concepts such as radical transcendence and immanent transcendence – or even a so-called end to transcendence – have arisen as possible reorientations after onto-theology. Within the latter, the eschatological promise of the impossible becoming possible, or an end to history, have arisen as motivating principles behind the foundational intuitions and concepts in society.
In The Sacrality of the Secular, Bradley B. Onishi connects these lines of thought to reconsider the role of philosophy of religion in an age whose secularity is more ambiguous than it might seem. He demonstrates that philosophys entanglement with religion has led, perhaps counterintuitively, to vibrant reconceptions of the secular. Through rich readings of Heidegger, Bataille, and others, he shows that the tradition drew on religious phenomena as resources for conceiving the secular well before the unraveling of the secularization thesis or the turn to religion. Onishi traces the legacy of religion and postmodernism, considering Mark Taylor and other contemporary North American figures to rethink what the philosophy of religion contributes to the academic study of religion. Through critical analysis of the ideological foundations of secularism and Max Webers notion of the disenchantment of the world, Onishi reveals how continental philosophys religious investigations have enabled critical reflections on the category of the secular.
A multiplicity of factors converge to shape these encounters with mystical theology: feminist, devotional and philosophical treatments as well as literary, historical, and artistic approaches. The essays draw these into conversation. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary range of contributions from both new and established scholars, this book provides access to the melting pot out of which the mystical tradition in France erupted in the twenty-first century, and from which it continues to challenge theology today.
This special issue of the journal, Religions, seeks to explore the connections between eschatology and transcendence within contemporary philosophical-theological debates. This issue will inquire into the convergence or interrelation between the concepts of transcendence and eschatology and how they have developed within contemporary, primarily Continental, thought. On the one hand, thinkers within a hermeneutical-phenomenological context have made a theological turn to re-evaluate concepts of transcendence after the critique of metaphysics. On the other, political philosophers have explored how eschatology(-ies) undergird societal structures that situate the self into a larger, historical context. Within the former discussion, concepts such as radical transcendence and immanent transcendence – or even a so-called end to transcendence – have arisen as possible reorientations after onto-theology. Within the latter, the eschatological promise of the impossible becoming possible, or an end to history, have arisen as motivating principles behind the foundational intuitions and concepts in society.