The Visible and the Revealed

by Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Luc Marion

In The Visible and the Revealed, Jean-Luc Marion brings together his most significant papers dealing with the relationship between philosophy and theology. Covering the ground from some of his earliest writings on this topic to very recent reflections, they are particularly useful for understanding the progression of Marion’s thought on such topics as the saturated phenomenon and the possibility of something like “Christian Philosophy.” The book contains his seminal pieces on the saturated phenomenon and on the gift, although the essays also explore more recent developments of his thought on these topics.

Several chapters explicitly explore the boundary line between philosophy and theology or their mutual enrichment and influence. In one of the final pieces, “The Banality of Saturation,” Marion considers some of the most recent objections brought against his notion of the saturated phenomenon and responds to them in detail, suggesting that saturated phenomena are neither as rare nor as inflexible as often assumed. The work contains two chapters not previously available in English and brings together several other pieces previously translated but now difficult to find. For readers interested in the relation between the two disciplines,
this is indispensable reading.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Christianity

188 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

About the author

Jean-Luc Marion is a French philosopher and Catholic theologian whose work bridges phenomenology, modern philosophy, and theology. A former student of Jacques Derrida, he studied at the University of Nanterre, the Sorbonne, and the École normale supérieure under Derrida, Louis Althusser, and Gilles Deleuze, while privately exploring theology with figures such as Louis Bouyer, Jean Daniélou, Henri de Lubac, and Hans Urs von Balthasar. His early academic career included assistant lectureships at the Sorbonne and a doctorate completed in 1980, after which he taught at the University of Poitiers and later directed philosophy programs at the University Paris X – Nanterre and the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne). Marion has also held visiting and endowed professorships at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he served as John Nuveen Professor and later as Andrew Thomas and Grace McNichols Greeley Professor of Catholic Studies, retiring in 2022. Elected to the Académie Française in 2008, he delivered the 2014 Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow and has received numerous honors including the Premio Joseph Ratzinger, the Karl Jaspers Prize, and the Grand Prix de philosophie de l’Académie française. Marion’s philosophical contributions focus on the concept of givenness, radicalizing phenomenology to explore the “saturated phenomenon,” which exceeds the capacities of cognition, and examining love through intentionality, inspired by Emmanuel Levinas. His major works include God Without Being, Réduction et donation, Étant donné, and Du surcroît, addressing idolatry, love, the gift, and the limits of perception. Marion’s thought has deeply influenced contemporary debates in philosophy of religion, phenomenology, and theology, emphasizing how phenomena show themselves prior to consciousness, how love implicates the invisible other, and how the gift and givenness constitute the foundational conditions for understanding being, knowledge, and relationality.

Reviews

[David Mamdouh · Rating 1 out of 5]

لأول مرة أقرأ كتاب مفهمش منه غير 5% بس معرفش بس الترجمة ولا المحتوى نفسه ولا ايه
نجمة واحدة بس للفصل الاخير

[Andy Stager · Rating 5 out of 5]

These essays represent Marion's early thought on the relationship between philosophy and theology, and introduce and defend the concept in phenomenology that he has become known for putting forth, namely the saturated phenomena. His later studies essentially unfold what is packed into this short book. I wish I had read this before attempting the meatier later works. But there's something wonderful about the density and freshness, even the daring nature of Marion's earliest work on what would become his life's work. There's nothing raw and or half-baked here. Only Marion's précis for all that would come later, in compact form.

This is a really powerful book that packs punch and bedazzles like the phenomena it describes.

[Seth]

75% of the time I don't know what Marion is talking about, but the parts I do get I really like

[Andrew Tebbutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to Marion's work. For those interested in the idea of the 'saturated phenomenon, the essay 'The Banality of Saturation' itself is almost worth buying the book.