系列：扩展宗教哲学
佛陀、神、先知和神谕通常被描述为提问。但当耶稣问“你说我是谁”时，我们又能理解什么呢，或者是妈祖，经典的禅师问，“你为什么在外面寻找？”他们的质疑是一种力量还是弱点？这是人类由于我们的有限而只能做的事情吗？有什么问题是一种力量吗？
内森·埃里克·迪克曼（Nathan Eric Dickman）专注于在故事层面上对神性话语中的问题进行的三个案例研究——犹太圣经中描绘的上帝、他有记录的谚语文学中的妈祖大师，以及在被封圣的基督教福音书中描绘的耶稣——思考人类对神性问题的反应。他考虑了宗教间对话的目的，以及似乎有意让我们分心的挑衅性问题，借鉴了以忏悔为导向的解释学的方法和批判性思维的技巧。
他让我们看到了解读宗教文本的其他方法，这些方法不仅仅是为了改善我们自己的宗教，或是为了接近某种形而上学的超越现实而阅读文本。这是包容、多样、相关并立足于我们生活的世界的宗教现象学的第一步。
Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Priority of Questions in Religions: Bringing the Discourse of Gods and Buddhas Down to Earth
Series: Expanding Philosophy of Religion
Buddhas, gods, prophets and oracles are often depicted as asking questions. But what are we to understand when Jesus asks “Who do you say that I am?”, or Mazu, the Classical Zen master asks, “Why do you seek outside?” Is their questioning a power or weakness? Is it something human beings are only capable of due to our finitude? Is there any kind of question that is a power?
Focusing on three case studies of questions in divine discourse on the level of story – the god depicted in the Jewish Bible, the master Mazu in his recorded sayings literature, and Jesus as he is depicted in canonized Christian Gospels – Nathan Eric Dickman meditates on human responses to divine questions. He considers the purpose of interreligious dialogue and the provocative kind of questions that seem to purposefully decenter us, drawing on methods from confessionally-oriented hermeneutics and skills from critical thinking.
He allows us to see alternative ways of interpreting religious texts through approaches that look beyond reading a text for the improvement of our own religion or for access to some metaphysically transcendent reality. This is the first step in a phenomenology of religions that is inclusive, diverse, relevant and grounded in the world we live in.
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