Abstract
In reaction to William Desmond’s article, “The Shine on Things,” I argue firstly that Desmond’s approach is on some point similar to the approach of early idealism, and secondly, that the intrinsic connection Desmond perceives between beauty, order, and creation leaves no room for experiences of a reality that is outside of order. Using Kierkegaard’s account of the biblical story of Job I argue that Christian philosophy should be responsive to experiences of God that are not similar to experiences of order in the first place.
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Notes
- 1.
See especially Lyotard’s, Le postmoderne expliqué aux enfants (1986) where he develops the notion of a postmodernism that is far-reaching infolded in modernity .
- 2.
See Herman Dooyeweerd , A New Critique of Theoretical Thought, 1953, especially part III, 499–566. For an extensive review of William Desmond’s philosophy of religion from the perspective of Reformational philosophy , see: Sander Griffioen , “Towards a Philosophy of God. A Study in William Desmond’s Thought” (Griffioen 2010: 115–140).
- 3.
Here the experience of being out of law is expressed by the observation that love does not obey the laws of time: “Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime/Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.” (Donne 1966, 55)
- 4.
Not only in the second of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20), but also in the time of the prophet Elijah, when idolatry was punished by drought (1 Kings 17–19).
- 5.
As in the prologue to Job; see the interpretation of Philippe Nemo in Job et l’excès du mal (1978).
- 6.
See Job 39 and 41, and compare William Desmond “The Shine..” where the bond between creation and glory and terror is conceded. “the harmony is exceeded by something more than our measure.” However, this insight seems to be almost absent in the whole of his approach to creation, beauty, and order.
- 7.
See Kierkegaard , Pap IV B 117: “freedom takes on a religious expression, by which repetition appears as atonement, which is repetition sensu eminentiori [in the highest sense] and something different from mediation..” (Kierkegaard 1983: 320).
- 8.
As Levinas says of evil and of transcendence, see “Transcendance et mal” (Levinas 1982, 189–207. In another essay on transcendence, Levinas presents psychism (finite inner conscience) as being awakened by the “irreversible affection” of the infinite; this is, in his eyes, a “more original spirituality.” (Levinas 1984: 26/7)
- 9.
See, for instance, the essay “Dieu et la philosophie” (Levinas 1982, 93–127).
- 10.
And thus, it is especially this kind of art, possible perceived as ugly, that would give us the possibility of re-gaining of reality, of the flesh of things. See Desmond’s complaint of modernity as a loss of creation that is interpreted as a loss of exposure to the “flesh of things.”
References
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Dooyeweerd, H. 1953. A new critique of theoretical thought. Paris: Amsterdam.
Griffioen, S. 2010. Towards a philosophy of God. A study in William Desmond’s thought. Philosophia Reformata 75: 115–140.
Kierkegaard, S. 1983. Fear and trembling & Repetition. Howard V. Hong; Edna H. Hong red. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
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———. 1984. Transcendence et intelligibilité. Genève: Labor et Fides.
Lyotard, J.-F. 1986. Le postmoderne expliquée aux enfants. Paris: Galilée.
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van Riessen, R.D.N. (2018). The Beauty of Repetition, or: How to Become a Friend of Job. In: Buijs, G., Mosher, A. (eds) The Future of Creation Order. New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion , vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92147-1_4
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