immediate encounter with the truth. As a result, the person becomes a
loyal subject of this authority or truth.
The medieval and early modern paradigm of self-preservation
typically employs the idea ofcommendatio, social bonding with the
lord and the community around the lord. Only through this bond
does the recognizer receive an identity that enables her to become
what she is: a believer, a lover, a servant, a revitalized person. From
Bernard to Zinzendorf, the phrases of bridal mysticism are employed
to depict this personal bond of love and reciprocal identity.
The theme of recognizing oneself through this bond is intimately
connected with this idea of self-preservation. At the same time,
attachment must be grounded on an external principle that provides
the recognizer with an objective promise or gift.
The modern paradigm of existential attachment holds that the
initial subjective recognition establishes the possibility of a religious
world view. While this paradigm has some roots in thefirst (the Latin
Recognitions) and second (Luther) paradigms, it is launched in the
Enlightenment theology of Spalding (section 3.2) and Schleiermacher
(section 3.3). Existential attachment seeks to avoid any reification of
religious truths. While its point of departure is subjective or existen-
tial, it also shifts the emphasis of recognition towards the recognizee,
since the object of recognition is affirmed in an existential decision.
What is transformed as a result of this affirmation is not primarily the
recognizer but the cognitive content and status of the recognizee.
Philosophically and psychologically, this comes surprisingly close
to the views expressed by Axel Honneth in his Reification.^13 In
discussing the philosophical relevance of this topic, one needs to
see the influence of the twentieth-century existential philosophy
of Martin Heidegger upon some theologians, especially Rudolf
Bultmann (section 3.4). At the same time, the notion of existential
attachment cannot be reduced to its twentieth-century proponents. The
long tradition of Ciceronian commendatio and Christian religious
attachment is operative in Augustine, Bernard, Luther, and Spalding.
When Bultmann works out a New Testament grounding for this
tradition, he may have received some inspiration from Heidegger. At
the same time, he is nevertheless primarily refining the basic ideas of
Augustine, Luther, and their modern followers.
(^13) Honneth 2008. See section 1.2 in this volume.
Recognition in Religion 209