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ogy. He insists that “phenomenology and theology make two,” without thereby

amalgamating them into one. The recent movement toward religion must be

viewed within a wider context of postmodernity. We could say that as moder-

nity celebrated the secular, postmodernity is carefully restoring the sacred.

Jacques Derrida, by deconstructing any simple opposition between philosophy

and theology, explicitly turns to religion.

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Hermeneutic Challenge: The Future of Hermeneutics

The International Institute for Hermeneutics invites colleagues specializing in

hermeneutics and hermeneutically related fields into a dialogue, in a spirit of

openness and inclusiveness, to deepen their own knowledge and to increase

hermeneutic awareness in different schools of thinking. This is a first step, by

the Institute and its Hermeneutic Series, toward the establishment of an ongo-

ing international hermeneutic collaboration that aims to transcend lingual, cul-

tural, and disciplinary boundaries.

Looking for the new prospects in hermeneutics we are aware of the challenges

and directions facing philosophical and theological hermeneutics in the imme-

diate future. Hermeneutic and critical theory need to be brought into a creative

dialogue with the classic conceptions of systematic theology. Special focus

needs to be given to important new impulses for interpreting these traditions

emerging from feminism and gender studies.

Gadamer is called “the exemplary practitioner of the hermeneutic virtues, both

intellectual and moral.”

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 His critical development of Heidegger’s notion of

Verstehen, the self-interpretation and projective nature of Dasein, “urbanized

the Heideggerian province.”

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 With his teacher’s attentiveness to der Ursprung

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 Jacques Derrida, “Faith and Knowledge: The Two Sources of ,Religion’ at the Limits of Mere

Reason,” in Jacques Derrida and Gianni Vattimo, ed., Religion, trans. David Webb(Stanford, Calif.:

Stanford University Press, 1998); idem, Acts of Religion, ed. Gil Anidjar (New York: Routledge,

2002). See also James K. A. Smith, “Determined Violence: Derrida’s Structural Religion,” Journal

of Religion 78 (1998): 97–212 and John D. Caputo, The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida:

Religion without Religion  (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1997).

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 Alasdair MacIntyre, in his essay, “On Not Having the Last Word: Thoughts on Our Debts to

Gadamer,” in Malpas, Arnswald, and Kertscher, ed., Gadamer’s Century, 157.

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 See Robert Bernasconi, “Bridging the Abyss: Heidegger and Gadamer,” Research in Pheno-

menology 16 (1986): 1–24. Referring to the now famous phrase by Habermas of Gadamer “urba-

nizing Heideggerian province,” Bernasconi interprets Gadamer as departing of Heidegger’s “history

of Being” in favor of Hegelian continuity of history.

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he advanced his own unique readings of Greek and Latin sources, comple-

menting Heidegger’s hermeneutics of facticity with a very personal sensitivity

to the dialogic and social nature of understanding. In his book, Die Lektion des

Jahrhunderts: Ein philosophischer Dialog mit Riccardo Dottori,

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 Gadamer

emphasizes that dialogue between religions and cultures is humanity’s last

chance to preserve itself from the self-destructive forces unleashed by the

technological age. As we live always anew in a dialogue, hope becomes our

modus existendi. Practicing an ever deepening understanding of ourselves and

the other, we will contribute to a civilization of tolerance and respect for alterity.

Gadamer’s hermeneutic enterprise extends to a conscientious transformation

of the world. The call to interpret is ontological, ethical, and transcendental,

for it points to our roots in other worlds: it demands a personal response, not

only to be-there, but to be-grateful to Being.

Hermeneutics expresses different understandings of crucial philosophical is-

sues. What is decisive is to address the matter that needs to be thought through

in the most comprehensive horizon possible. The way the philosophical prob-

lems are addressed is dictated by the inner dynamic of the relationship be-

tween phenomenology and hermeneutics: a hermeneutician attempts to the-

matize everything that presents itself to him/her as that which needs to be ad-

dressed. As with all our activities, thinking points toward creating a tangible

place for our being in the world, a place where we could unrestrainedly explore

and realize its possibilities. We know that this place is tangible, yet we cannot

adequately describe it. We will always attempt to depict and interpret every-

thing. And we will always remain unsatisfied: not because we lack the means

for a describing and descriptive interpretation, but because we are human. The

reason for any limits we deal with is our human finitude. It is our destiny to

learn always afresh to dwell on this earth within this limitation: between de-

scription and interpretation.

Gadamer’s and Ricoeur’s voice accompanied us over the years. Now it joins

the chorus of tradition, inviting us to transmit and transform what we have

received. We continue to listen for this voice. As Heidegger reminds us, ab-

sence is a mode of presence. An era has passed! We miss Hans-Georg Gadamer

and Paul Ricoeur very much, yet in our fidelity to the Wirkungsgeschichte of

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Hans-Georg Gadamer, Die Lektion des Jahrhunderts: Ein philosophischer Dialog mit Riccardo

Dottori (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2002).

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