Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 09:01:38 -0500
Subject: Re: phenomenology of religion


Henk and Paul,

First, I think it important to point out, as Paul's (J) post 
suggests, that there is no word for "doctrine" in Biblical Hebrew. 
The word for Law is Halakhah which literally means "way," though 
there is more of a singular directionality implied here,  than is the 
case with "Tao."  Thus, we might say that the concept of  Halakhah is 
in agreement with Henk's characterization of Heidegger's 
characterization of Paul:


>Following Heidegger Paul is no longer trying to found the how in the what.
>The what only becomes understandable in the how.(Das Dogma als abgeloester
>Lehrgehalt in objektiv-erkenntnismaessiger Abhebung kann niemals leitend
>fuer die christliche Religioesitaet gewesen sein, sondern umgekehrt, die
>Genesis des Dogmas ist nur verstaendlich aus dem Vollzug der christlichen
>Lebenserfahrung. - GA60:112).

Of course Paul and Heidegger might both have trouble with that 
heretical similitude, but then neither of them were credible exegetes 
of key Old Testament passages.  Too much investment in an already 
posited outcome!

To take the point further, I would invoke an understanding of the 
First Commandment by a Biblical theologian I think Paul(J) is 
familiar with, Dale Patrick.  Patrick suggests that the only way the 
claim of the First Commandment ("I am the Lord your God. . .") can be 
"assessed" (by which I mean some sort of non-objectifying alternative 
to proof) is through the observance of the laws which follow.  That 
is, the "what," i.e. Yahweh being who he says he is, can only be 
understood through the "how," that is through the observance of the 
Halakhah.

I don't know how much help this is for Paul J. and the what/how of 
preparing for the  Anglican priesthood, but then again it might be 
helpful to the Anglicans as they prepare for Paul.

Allen



-- 
Professor Allen Scult					Dept. of Philosophy
HOMEPAGE: " Heidegger on Rhetoric and Hermeneutics":		Drake 
University
http://www.multimedia2.drake.edu/s/scult/scult.html		Des 
Moines, Iowa 50311
PHONE: 515 271 2869
FAX: 515 271 3826


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