CAN GOD BE FOUND IN IMMANENCE?

 

Extraordinary time at Oxford University where I was invited to a private lecture exploring the frontier between theology and phenomenology. The symposium on Truth and Contemplation was beautifully organized by researchers and fellows from the Faculty of Theology and Religion of Oxford. When a researcher starts with opening remarks that are both in English and in Sanskrit you know you have arrived in Oxford. After a powerful opening by Mark Wrathall ( our times authority on Heidegger read his book The Heidegger Lexicon ) with fascinating remarks on the De-godding of the world (Engotterung) Professor Kevin Hart who was honored for his life time work ( read his excellent Poetry and Revelation 2017 ) and Father Jean-Yves Lacoste one of the foremost theologian of our times ( who wrote Experience and the Absolute 2004 and the Phenomenality of God 2008 ) both started their lectures and a discussion followed. Professor Kevin Hart summarized brilliantly the question that  reunited us on this day: this fundamental question is can God be found in immanence. I was moved to be introduced by the Fellow Lecturer of the Faculty of Theology and Religion as one who bridges aesthetics with theology. All my life I have been haunted by this question and will carry on trying to respond with sculptures, lectures, symbols and mystical gates. At the diner that followed the presence of camaraderie, collegiality and excellence never left the room. It was one of these days in which you feel perfectly at home in the world. On the question: is phenomenological reduction a method or an art Jean-Yves Lacoste concluded with great humor and great depth saying ‘’we need as much description as possible and as little prescription as possible’’ to keep the pre-epistemic truth in its purity.