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.
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.
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.