Religion and Revelation After Auschwitz is a philosophical approach to the notion of revelation. Following such authors as A. Dulles, R. Swinburne, or K. Ward, Balazs Mezei investigates some of the main problems of revelation and connects them to the general problem of religion today. Religion is considered in the perspective of the age "after Auschwitz", an expression coined by Hans Jonas and further elaborated by J. B. Metz. Mezei develops the insights of these philosophers and investigates various aspects of religion and revelation "after Auschwitz": contemporary theistic philosophy, phenomenology, art, mysticism, and the question of university education today. A fascinating amalgam of subjects and approaches, Religion and Revelation After Auschwitz is an important contribution to contemporary discussions on the possibility of Catholic philosophy.

Contents:

1. Introduction: Religion and Revelation After Auschwitz

I. Religion
2. The Crisis of Religion
3. Theistic Intentionality
4. Brentano and Husserl on History
5. The Metaphysics of the Human Body

II. Revelation
6. Europe and Revelation
7. Two Models of Revelation
8. Revelation without Belief
9. Divine Revelation and Human Person
10. Revelation in the Context of Cultures

III. History
11. A Phenomenology of Revelation
12. Aristotle and Nietzsche
13. Boethius and Human Persons
14. Austrian Theism and the Catholic Principle
15. Hildebrand on Evil

IV. The Survival of the University
16. The Crisis of University
17. Religion, Ethics, and Politics
18. Art and Religion
19. The Rehellenization of Reason
20. Catholic Philosophy in the New Millennium

Review

Balazs Mezei has accomplished the most precise, searching, and in-depth investigation of a subject whose importance cannot be overestimated if philosophy is to take seriously the existential challenge of Auschwitz. A graceful, careful and lucid discussion, this book explores the problem of faith, revelation and reason and the experience of suffering and guilt from a multitude of angles in order to shed a new light on contemporary theistic philosophy, phenomenology, art, and the question of contemporary academic education. Through an inspired combination of phenomenology, existential philosophy, philosophy of religion, history, and religion, Balazs Mezei's study illuminates brilliantly how our view of the world and our place in it is both challenged and fundamentally broadened once we take Auschwitz and its long-lasting effects into account. Balazs Mezei's outstanding narrative is unprecedented in scope and detail and will shape future philosophical debates on the relationship between history, personhood, and our individual and collective futures. (Alexander Batthyany, Cognitive Science Dept, Institute Of Philosophy, University Of Vienna, Austria, And Head Of Research Dept., The Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna, Austria)

Though Adorno thought poetry after Auschwitz impossible, Celan insisted language could still find a way through. Like Jonas' 'Concept of God after Auschwitz,' Balasz Mezei has continued the immense task of excavating the foundations for a philosophy of religion and revelation. This is a unique and utterly original exploration of two of the most compelling questions of our time - the evil of Auschwitz and whether there's a reality that can go beyond without abolishing the brute fact of that evil. A profoundly inclusive thinker drawing on the entire range of Western thought and spirituality, Mezei draws his reader deeper into themselves and toward unexplored horizons beyond. (Brendan Purcell, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Notre Dame University Australia)

Religion and Revelation after Auschwitz is a valuable work by an especially fertile thinker. Balazs Mezei, whose Jewish mother was forced into hiding during the War years, looks frankly and honestly at the challenge posed to contemporary thought by the grievous offenses against human dignity in the 20th Century, by the disasters represented by Auschwitz. Here the author addresses the contemporary challenges not only to philosophy, but to the university, art, and religion. Mezei brings to this project a broad and deep knowledge of modern Continental - especially Austrian and German - thought, as well as of its more distant Medieval roots. (Adrian J. Reimers, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Departments Of Philosophy And Theology, University Of Notre Dame, USA)

Auschwitz has come to be considered by many as a stumbling block for continuing philosophy and theology as they have been practised until now. For Mezei, the Shoa is indeed a watershed but it also allows us to rethink the essential theme of divine revelation. Through a large spectrum of thinkers and systems from the late Antiquity up to the beginning of this third millenium, he attempts at working out a new, more radical understanding of what revelation really means. Readers may not agree with this or that position, but they will be deeply impressed by the width of its purpose and the creativity of its vision. (Miklos Veto, Professor Emeritus Of Philosophy, University Of Poitiers, France, And External Member Of The Hungarian Academy Of Sciences)