FAITH, HERMENEUTICS AND WORD

While the first volume of Mystery and Hermeneutics dealt with myth, symbol and ritual, three forms through which Man opens himself to the mystery of Reality, the second volume is dedicated to faith, hermeneutics and the word as an expression of this openness.
The first section focuses on faith and its nature, and seeks to break the monopolization of faith on the part of a certain narrow interpretation. Only the symbolic nature of words and their use in a mythical sense can overcome our reason’s tendency to claim a monopoly over the meaning of words.
The second section seeks to apply hermeneutics to some of the problems that exist today in the encounter between religions and the comparison between different worldviews. The effort here is to integrate the interpretations, as dictated by the contemporary situation, of so-called fundamental theology. From this hermeneutic perspective, the book examines an example provided primarily by the Christian religion. The final chapter analyzes an important aspect of each religion, which seems to have often been unduly overlooked. Secularization and religion are clearly on common ground in emphasizing the importance not only of liberation, but of freedom.
The third section consists of four texts that deal with the relationship between Man, Reality and the Word, each from a particular perspective. These are texts that have been published at different times and in different cultural contexts, from India to Catalonia. In a concise and stimulating way, they analyse the problems from the perspectives of philosophy, religion and science, combining the insights of Eastern and Western thought – especially Indic thought and Western philosophy and Christianity – into a single intellectual and spiritual experience.
This is followed by additional articles on the philosophy of language.

INDEX OF ORIGINAL TEXTS IN VOLUME IX, PART 2

“Faith as a Constitutive Human Dimension”. In Myth, Faith and Hermeneutics (New York: Paulist Press, 1979; reprint Bangalore: ATC, 1983), chap. 6.

“Hermeneutics of Comparative Religion: Paradigms and Models”. In Journal of Dharma (Bangalore) 5, no. 1 (1980): 38–51.

“Hermeneutics of Religious Freedom: Religion as Freedom”. In Myth, Faith and Hermeneutics (New York: Paulist Press, 1979; reprint Bangalore: ATC, 1983), chap. 16.

“The Lie: A Psychoanalytical Experience.” Original text: “Verità, Errore, Bugia, Esperienza,” in Quaderni di psicoterapia infantile (Rome: Borla, 1986), 14–110.

“Metatheology as Fundamental Theology”. In Myth, Faith and Hermeneutics (New York: Paulist Press, 1979; reprint Bangalore: ATC, 1983), chap. 11.

Mysterium. In G. Hartlieb, Chr. Quarch, and B. Schellenberger, ed., Spirituell Leben (Freiburg: Herder, 2002), 279–83.

“Philosophical Pluralism and the Plurality of Religions”, in Th. Dean, ed., Religious Pluralism and Truth (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), 33–43.

“The Secularization of Hermeneutics. The Instance of Christ: Son of Man and Son of God.” In La sécularisation de l’herméneutique. Le cas du Crist: fils de l’homme et fils de Dieu, in E. Castelli, ed., Herméneutique de la secularization (Paris: Aubier, 1976), 213–48.

The Spirit of the Word. Original text: Lo spirito della parola, Bollati Boringhieri (Torino, 2007), including the following four articles:

“Are the Words of Scripture Universal Religious Categories? Christian Language for the Third Millennium”, in M. M. Olivetti, ed., Religione, Parola, Scrittura, Biblioteca dell’Archivio di Filosofia (Padova: CEDAM, 1992), 377–87.

“The Power of the Word”, in F. D’Sa, ed., The Dharma of Jesus: Interdisciplinary Essays in Memory of George Soares Prabhu, SJ (Pune: Institute for the Study of Religion, 1997), 408–17.

“The Word, Creator of Reality. Original text: La paraula, creadora de realitat, in Llenguatge i identitat. Lexicosofia catalana”, Acts of the Symposium coordinated by Raimon Panikkar at Vivarium, Tavertet, September 1992 (Barcelona: Abadia de Montserrat, 1994), 11–75.

“Words and Terms”, in M. M. Olivetti, ed., Esistenza, Mito, Ermeneutica, Archivio di Filosofia (Padova: CEDAM, 1980), 2:117–33.

“The Subject of Infallibility: Solipsism and Verification”. In Myth, Faith and Hermeneutics (New York: Paulist Press, 1979; reprint Bangalore: ATC, 1983), chap. 15.

“The Threefold Linguistic Intra Subjectivity”, in M. M. Olivetti, ed., Intersoggettività, Socialità, Religione, Archivio di Filosofia 54, no. 1/3 (Rome) (1986): 593–606.

“Tradition”, in G. Hartlieb, Chr. Quarch, and B. Schellenberger, eds., Spirituell Leben (Freiburg: Herder, 2002), 357–61.

“Witness and Dialogue”. In Myth, Faith and Hermeneutics (New York: Paulist Press, 1979; reprint Bangalore: ATC, 1983), chap. 7.