Divine Absence in the Thought of Martin Heidegger

This analysis rests upon elucidating the links Heidegger establishes between the existence of Being and the truth of God. Through an interrogation of Heidegger’s German texts on the matter of divine absence, Aoun addresses the truth of the active relationship between the freedom of Being in disclosing and concealing, and the freedom of God in imposing and withdrawing; for God, in Heidegger’s eyes, cannot manifest unless human beings take into account these two types of freedom. Consequently, the issue of the presence or absence of God is linked to the disclosure of Being among entities, beings, and objects. In Heidegger’s view, it is not for the human being to impose a type of presence onto Being that conflicts with its appropriation of the free openness of existence. Just as the bestowal of Being is independent of the bestowal of beings, God’s bestowal of self-exposure allows Him to safeguard the freedom of Being from the distortion of human prowess. Thus, Heidegger frees God from the molds of human understanding, perception, and language, but links God to the freedom of Being and its self-giving. This Being, however, also desires to guard over appearance and attentiveness in the understanding and originality of truth and is also very much opposed to projects of modern technical domination over beings and objects. It becomes possible, then, to link God to the freedom of Being, and for this to be one of the most appropriate forms of emancipating the divine status. God becomes the reflection of the origin of living association between the mortals, the gods, the earth, and the sky.

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This analysis rests upon elucidating the links Heidegger establishes between the existence of Being and the truth of God. Through an interrogation of Heidegger’s German texts on the matter of divine absence, Aoun addresses the truth of the active relationship between the freedom of Being in disclosing and concealing, and the freedom of God in imposing and withdrawing; for God, in Heidegger’s eyes, cannot manifest unless human beings take into account these two types of freedom. Consequently, the issue of the presence or absence of God is linked to the disclosure of Being among entities, beings, and objects. In Heidegger’s view, it is not for the human being to impose a type of presence onto Being that conflicts with its appropriation of the free openness of existence. Just as the bestowal of Being is independent of the bestowal of beings, God’s bestowal of self-exposure allows Him to safeguard the freedom of Being from the distortion of human prowess. Thus, Heidegger frees God from the molds of human understanding, perception, and language, but links God to the freedom of Being and its self-giving. This Being, however, also desires to guard over appearance and attentiveness in the understanding and originality of truth and is also very much opposed to projects of modern technical domination over beings and objects. It becomes possible, then, to link God to the freedom of Being, and for this to be one of the most appropriate forms of emancipating the divine status. God becomes the reflection of the origin of living association between the mortals, the gods, the earth, and the sky.

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