The Call and Response in the French Phenomenology of Religion

Abstract

Is it legitimate to talk about religion as a phenomenology of modern philosophy? Some French phenomenologists have argued that philosophical discourses can be used in phenomenology to describe religious phenomena, and doing so does not contradict the absolute and irreducible nature of phenomenology as a philosophy. Their purpose is to justify the legitimacy of the phenomenological possibilities of religion. This paper aims to describe the progress made by the phenomenon of the call and response as a French phenomenology of religion. Marion talks about l’adonné in the “call and response” structure in the phenomenology of religion. In his third reduction, l’adonné, due to boredom, nihilates the Being, leaving a possibility of the call in a pure form. When the call responds, it hears and then establishes a quasi-subject status, which serves as Marion’s reflection on the metaphysical subject. Focusing on prayer as one of the religious phenomena, Chrétien argues that vocal prayer reconciles the opposition of the soul and body, of spirit and matter. Through the description of such a religious act, Chrétien emphasizes an interactive-subjective relationship with the Absolute Other. Through the study of Marion and Chrétien, we find that when phenomenologists talk about religion, it does not make phenomenology lose its own principles but instead expands new fields for phenomenology.

Keywords

• French philosophy
• phenomenology of religion
• the call and response
• prayer