Page 289 - Contribution To Phenomenology

282 JAMES G HART

unbegun and unending character of the transcendental "I,'* the absolute
ought, etc. there is no effort I know of to indicate how the basic
positions of transcendental phenomenology in effect rule over or provide
the norms for the religious symbolism and imagination of historical
religions. Again, this aspect of transcendental phenomenology would
require an expertise which Husserl would not pretend to claim.
It is clear that for Husserl the idea of a so-called phenomenology of
religion which would tabulate the strange and exotic practices of the
world's cultures would hold philosophical interest only in so far as the
historical-anthropological material would supplement the process of eidetic
variation.
Here we can ask whether this division of religious studies into
Religionswissenschaft and transcendental phenomenological metaphysics is
a division of "pure phenomenological theology." Seemingly it is. But in
any case it oversimplifies the richness of senses of theology even as it
appears in the Kaizo manuscripts from which it is taken. We can best
demonstrate this by looking at the various other senses in which Husserl
understands "theology."

rv. Various Senses of Theology

Although "theology" refers primarily to an activity in the Western
Christian tradition, the only realm of Husserl's competence, because it has
paraUels with what he understands "religion" to be, it would seem, on the
one hand, that its various senses may serve as possible types in non-
Western contexts. On the other hand, in as much as the defining senses
of theology have to do with the various relations to logos, and in as
much as Husserl thought, mistakenly it seems, that other ancient cultures,
e.g., India and China, did not have anything which paralleled the ideal
of logos, it is unlikely that he would allow the various senses of
"theology" to exist outside the West in antiquity.
Husserl on several occasions discusses theology within the parameters
of the conventional and traditional Western understanding of theology. In
general, theology has as its foundation faith and the religious tradition as
a source of revelation and faith. The religious tradition differs from
ordinary tradition. The latter does not have the character of absoluteness
which the former has for the religious believer. For the religious believer
the religious tradition cannot become doubtful or contradicted by reason.
Thus religious faith stands in opposition to all rational knowing and