Inkarniertes Bewusstsein. Die Bedeutung der Leiblichkeit bei Emmanuel Levinas als Herausforderung für die Theologie

Abstract

The article is focused on the question of carnality in the thinking of Emmanuel Levinas and its contribution to theological anthropology. At first, it deals with Levinas’ critique of western philosophy concerning the fact that it neglects carnality as a constitutive dimension of human identity. The identity of a subject is not founded on its thinking outside time and space but on its concrete carnal existence as an “incarnated consciousness”. The next accent of the article is put on the importance of carnal proximity with regard to another man as related to the responsibility for the neighbour. Body becomes a place of human presence and simultaneously a place of transcendence. The conclusion is based on Rahner’s idea about body as a place where God’s Word is present.

Keywords

• Carnality
• sensuality
• incarnation
• consciousness
• subject
• transcendence
• time
• proximity
• E. Levinas
• K. Rahner