A Phenomenology of Love as Event - Bultmann Beyond Heidegger

Rescuing Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) from Heidegger's shadow,

Nikolaas Cassidy-Deketelaere presents a philosophical reading of his

theology, which reveals his unique phenomenology of love as an event.

By reading Bultmann anew, in light of other continental philosophers'

engagement with Heidegger - from Jaspers and Levinas to Ricoeur and

Falque - this book contends that Bultmann not only builds on but

radically develops and even improves Heidegger's phenomenology.

Guiding the reader through his argument in a clear and compelling

style, Cassidy-Deketelaere reveals how Bultmann understands the

experience of love as not being limited to an empirical occurrence

but rather having a transcendental scope. With this, his theology

both resolves criticisms of Heidegger's method and also provides

a new paradigm of human finitude based on love. In a significant

contribution to philosophy, Bultmann shows us that love is the central

experience of human existence, one that transforms the being of

Dasein, despite Heidegger never allowing for it.