Phenomenology and Religion: New Frontiers

Beyond?

Horizon, Immanence, and

Transcendence

1

arne grøn

Religion: Beyond

”Lord, help us to see beyond what we see.” This prayer was uttered by
a South African ex-convict, in the moment of seeking, almost without
hope, some sort of reconciliation with his own family, his closest
relatives whom he had not only let down but horrified and terrified
almost beyond imagination. When I heard these words, some years
ago, watching a BBC-program, they struck me as telling something
crucial about what religion is about. Yet, even if they do this, the
question is not left unaffected by the answer.
What is religion about? It seems to go without saying that religion
is about “beyond”: something beyond, a world beyond, or even the
Beyond. Apparently, this is also the answer we get from the prayer
invoking a “beyond.” But if we have a second look at the opening
sentence, it does not simply point to something beyond. Rather, the
prayer indicates a movement: seeing beyond what we see. Even if it does
not perform this movement, but hopes for it, the prayer is about a
movement beyond. This movement is paradoxical, and it is so in terms

1. As I do not mention phenomenology in this article, let me briefly indicate how
   it relates to the question in the title of the conference: “Phenomenology and
   Religion: New Frontiers.” The article is not about phenomenology but is an exer-
   cise in phenomenology. It is about religion, or even about what religion is about.
   It argues that an answer to the question of what religion is about requires an in-
   direct approach that both re-opens the question and shows the problematic char-
   acter of the key notions of transcendence and immanence. This indirect approach
   is phenomenological and hermeneutical. The article can be taken as an argument
   for the claim that phenomenology must be hermeneutical.