An investigation into the interplay of speech and silence in the dialogue between God and human beings, and human beings and the world. Taking in both the Old and New Testaments the book shows how important it is for the believer to listen to God and to others in silence and devotion.

In this first English translation of an important work, a leading phenomenologist unfolds the ideas of memory and loss, of the immemorable, and of hope, as he opens a phenomenological path to the heart of classical thought. He stands with Levinas, Marion, and Henry in attempting to join philosophy and religion after Kant, Nietzsche, and Heidegger.

In this first English translation of an important work, a leading phenomenologist unfolds the ideas of memory and loss, of the immemorable, and of hope, as he opens a phenomenological path to the heart of classical thought. He stands with Levinas, Marion, and Henry in attempting to join philosophy and religion after Kant, Nietzsche, and Heidegger.

A leading philosopher and theologian, Jean-Louis Chretien uses poetry and painting to explore a theme that runs through all of his work: how human life is shaped by the experience of call and response. For Chretien, we live by responding to the call of experience with words, gestures, expressions, and silence. In luminous meditations on Rembrandt, Delacroix, Manet, Verlaine, Keats, and other artists, Chretien shows how "talking hands of painters" and the "secretly lucid" voices of poets confront the finitude of the human body. Hand to Hand is a deeply cultured renewal of art in all its...

A leading philosopher and theologian, Jean-Louis Chretien uses poetry and painting to explore a theme that runs through all of his work: how human life is shaped by the experience of call and response. For Chretien, we live by responding to the call of experience with words, gestures, expressions, and silence. In luminous meditations on Rembrandt, Delacroix, Manet, Verlaine, Keats, and other artists, Chretien shows how "talking hands of painters" and the "secretly lucid" voices of poets confront the finitude of the human body. Hand to Hand is a deeply cultured renewal of art in all its...

In the aptly titled The Call and the Response, renowned philosopher and theologian Jean-Louis Chrtien revisits a favorite theme: how human life is shaped by the experience of call and response, explored using art as a context. For Chrtien, art is about acts in response to what the artist sees or hears and how these acts provoke responses from viewers. Deeply spiritual and intellectual without being academic, his arguments are unique, in both style and content.

The Ark of Speech investigates the interplay of speech and silence in the dialogue between God and human beings, and human beings and the world. Ranging from the Old Testament and its depiction of God's creative word to the New Testament and its focus on the life and words of Jesus as the Word of the Father, the book shows how important it is for the believer to listen to God and to others in silence and devotion.

Chretien's essays on reading sacred scripture are enriched by his immersion in the classics of ancient philosophy and theology, as well as his poetic sensibility. He is as likely to quote Claudel as Aquinas or Origen. His intimate acquaintance with Patristic writings combines with a sympathetic understanding of such Protestant sources as Luther, Calvin, and Barth to yield an admirably ecumenical perspective.

The book's title refers to James 1:23-24, which portrays the Word of God as a mirror into which one gazes. The concomitant notion of not only examining the text but also being...

Chretien's essays on reading sacred scripture are enriched by his immersion in the classics of ancient philosophy and theology, as well as his poetic sensibility. He is as likely to quote Claudel as Aquinas or Origen. His intimate acquaintance with Patristic writings combines with a sympathetic understanding of such Protestant sources as Luther, Calvin, and Barth to yield an admirably ecumenical perspective.

The book's title refers to James 1:23-24, which portrays the Word of God as a mirror into which one gazes. The concomitant notion of not only examining the text but also being...