‘Revelation’ Pertains to Phenomenality, Not to Phenomena. Reconstructing Ingolf U. Dalferth’s Hermeneutical Critique of Jean-Luc Marion’s Phenomenology of Revelation

Abstract

Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenological approach to revelation has been widely criticized for insufficiently accounting for faith’s hermeneutical role in the appearing of revelatory phenomena. However, Ingolf Dalferth has criticized Marion for assuming that the concept of revelation pertains to specific phenomena, arguing instead that it pertains to phenomenality, that is, to the way in which phenomena appear. Nonetheless, Dalferth engages extensively neither with Marion nor with scholarship on Marion and does not fully integrate his critique into his thought. This article aims to remedy these issues, thereby demonstrating that Dalferth develops a systematic hermeneutical alternative to Marion’s approach.