레비나스의 종교사상에 대한 비판적 성찰

Abstract

Levinas understands religion as a relation invoking the other. He views the seat of religion not from a ritual dimension but a relationship to the other. Religion is viewed not as a philosophical representation or understanding but as an invocation to the other, and a personal relationship with the other. Levinas sees the relationship with God as an ethical one. Our relationship with God is an ethical act, not theology. There is no knowledge of God separated from relationship with God. According to Levinas, atheism does not mean there is not God, but one becomes independent of God. It is the condition for religion that a subject emerges through the secularization standing independently out of the sacred. The monotheism purged out of the myth presupposes the atheism. Levinas characterizes religion in the concept of heteronomy which is the core one in the adult religion. A fundamental heteronomy of humanity is conceived out of his being of creature. Human is given by God to his liberty. Asymmetrical relationship of subject to the other is interpreted by the dignity of the other. the other is more than me. I am obliged to substitute him. God as other does never come into I-Thou relationship. He can only be experienced through the third. Therefore, God is not a second personal being but a third personal one. God is not a being which we can face directly, but the one which appears in the relation to the other. The manifestation of face of the other reveals the trace of the one who passed by, the trace of passing by of God. This trace does not make the creator as the one who is present here, but only express his absence. The essence of subject is the otherness. The substitution of subject substituting the other is my redemption for the other. The sacrifice for the other is my sublime duty of subject for the other. The essence of the subject is messiah. A critical reflection on the Levinas’ thought of religion is as follows: Levinas uncovered the ethical dimension of the religion, thematized the ethics of other. This is a contribution of his thought ot religion. However, religion can not be reduced into the ethical dimension. Here, lies the limits of his thought of religion. In this thought of other lies the dimension of transcendence which can not be reduced into the ethical dimension. Levinas’ thought of religion is dominated by the optimism on human nature.