From positivism to postmodernity

pp. 1-21

in: Frank Schalow, Heidegger and the quest for the sacred, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

Like a river that weaves its way back to its source, Heidegger's thought continually nurtures its religious origins. Yet there is no convenient pattern, no easy formula by which we can gauge his interest in religious matters. Even Heidegger's autobiography suggests that religion offered him more a felicitous detour than a straight path to his destination. In 1909 he entered a Jesuit seminary only to renounce his priestly vocation shortly thereafter.¹ During that period Heidegger first acquainted himself with Husserl's master text the Logical Investigations. Yet only after having written his qualifying dissertation on Duns Scotus (1916) and then having familiarized himself with the writings of such theological stalwarts as Eckhart, Luther, and Kierkegaard, did Heidegger pursue an apprenticeship with the father of phenomenology. A number of starts and stops, detours and transitions, characterize Heidegger's early development. This trend continues throughout the lengthy maturation of his thought up to and including his later devotion to Hölderlin, his concern for the holy preserved in the "last god," and his experiment with mythic-poetic thinking.