A Double Antiphonary. Philosophical and Biblical Speech in Jean-Louis Chrétien

The phenomenological chord in Jean-Louis Chrétien’s work is not immediately apparent. Although references to Heidegger’s work are not lacking, especially in his early production, they are used more as a source of inspiration and comparison than to address questions of phenomenological epistemology. Indeed, in Chrétien there is neither an engagement with the so-called principles of phenomenology nor a rigorous and original analysis of the question of Reduktion and Gegebenheit, as Marion has suggested. However, in my opinion, Chrétien’s work is an unfolding of the Husserlian invitation ‘zu den Sachen selbst’; an invitation that Chrétien carries out by bringing himself “close to the phenomena” – or in their proximity. This is the meaning of the encounter that the author suggested as the key to ibterpreting his work. In other words, for Chrétien, to get close to the things themselves is “to encounter the things themselves”. Not the thing as ‘ens’ or the ‘objects’, of course, but the thing as essence of the phenomenon, which, according to Husserl, has a double meaning – as appearing and as what appears. In my opinion, the encounter is the phenomenon that Chrétien brings to manifestation and that leads him toward other phenomena.