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William Desmond, Jean-Luc Marion, and the Passion of Charity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2020
Abstract
Theologians have recently shown interest in the work of Irish metaphysician William Desmond. A prevailing antimetaphysical sentiment may, however, discourage others from engaging his work. To allay concerns, this article brings Desmond into conversation with Jean-Luc Marion on the topic of divine revelation. The purpose is twofold. First, for those wary of metaphysics, this essay demonstrates that Desmond's metaxology evades Marion's critique and, more importantly, shows how the two thinkers share a “familial intimacy.” Despite the opposition between metaphysics and phenomenology, this intimacy renders them companion thinkers. Second, this companionship is theologically beneficial to Desmond. With Marion as guide, we consider how the concept of divine charity can be added into Desmond's metaphysics in what I call the passio caritatis, or “passion of charity.” The article concludes by suggesting how undergoing the passio caritatis effects a theological expansion of Desmond's metaphysics and puts it at the service of theological reflection.
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References
1 Desmond's talk is the basis for two chapters in The Voiding of Being: “Saturated Phenomena and the Hyperboles of Being: On Marion's Postmetaphysical Thought” and “Being True to Mystery and Metaxological Metaphysics.” See Desmond, William, The Voiding of Being (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2019)Google Scholar.
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4 Ibid.
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11 Dei Verbum, §5.
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20 Ibid., 21.
21 Ibid., 24.
22 Ibid., 19.
23 Ibid., 209.
24 Marion, Givenness and Revelation, 35.
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26 Ibid., 47.
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57 Ibid., 91.
58 Marion, In Excess, xxi.
59 Marion, The Visible and the Revealed, 44 (emphases in original).
60 Desmond, “Godsends,” 23.
61 Ibid., 25–28.
62 Desmond, The Voiding of Being, 195.
63 Ibid., 202.
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69 Ibid., 327.
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74 Ibid., 99 (emphasis original).
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77 Marion, The Visible and the Revealed, 66–79.
78 Gschwandtner, Reading Jean-Luc Marion, 230.
79 Marion, The Visible and the Revealed, 71.
80 Ibid., 71.
81 Ibid., 72.
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84 Ibid., 82.
85 Ibid., 64.
86 Ibid., 114.
87 Ibid., 75.
88 Marion, Believing in Order to See, 112. For criticism, see Gschwandtner, Reading Jean-Luc Marion, 94–103.
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91 Ibid., 646.
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99 Ibid., 82 (emphasis in original).
100 Bryan Massingale, “The Assumption of White Privilege and What We Can Do about It,” National Catholic Reporter, June 1, 2020, https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/assumptions-white-privilege-and-what-we-can-do-about-it.
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