Before God: Exercises in Subjectivity

Since Heidegger, it has become something of an unquestioned presupposition to analyse selfhood from the perspective of being-in-the-world. In the book, DeLay sets out a view of existence instead emphasizing humanity’s ineluctable experience before-God. Surmounting received divisions between philosophy and theology, the work’s eight chapters explore our relation to God and others, tracing a path instituted in antiquity and latent still in certain strands of contemporary phenomenology. After two introductory explorations of the ancient conception of philosophy as a way of life undermining the modern notion of philosophy as methodologically atheist, the third chapter examines our relation to others through an assessment of how, paradoxically, we are together in the world yet ever alone. The theme of being-with-others is deepened with an analysis of forgiveness in its various forms. The theme is continued in the next chapter’s discussion of peace, which is seen to prove so elusive because of the omnipresence of evil in the world, a fact which itself is explored in connection to the varieties of silence we encounter throughout our daily lives. Utilizing these results from the preceding chapters on forgiveness, peace, and silence, the final chapters inquire into perennial questions as doubt, deception, and hope. Drawing together the previous results, the conclusion underscores the view of man that has theretofore emerged: we are open to a God who in Jesus Christ calls each of us back to ourselves.

Table of Contents:
1. Divine Things and the Fluidity of Thought / 2. The Interlacement of Self and God / 3.What is the Problem of Intersubjectivity? / 4. Forgiveness / 5. Making Peace / 6. A Sketch of Silence and Evil / 7. Suffering and Salvation: A Note on Art / 8. The Light that Lights Every Man

About the Author :
Steven DeLay is an Old Member of Christ Church, Oxford. The author of In the Spirit (John Hunt, 2021) and Phenomenology in France: A Philosophical and Theological Introduction (Routledge, 2019), he is also the editor of Life above the Clouds: Philosophy in the Films of Terrence Malick (SUNY, 2022), and editor of the series of online essays “Finding Meaning in the Age of Nihilism” at 3:16 AM.

Review :
Before God is a richly insightful, frequently opinionated, and sometimes idiosyncratic book well worth the effort. This is philosophically-inspired discussion at the service of spiritual growth, enrichment, and conversion. It is a book I recommend and will very happily return to. DeLay’s account of a life lived before God succeeds in its task of shedding light on the world from the perspective of faith. This is in part because while the existence of God might not be a matter to be settled by description or argument, DeLay does provide a rich phenomenological characterization of what living with a secure faith and trust in God involves. It is a work of immense wisdom, compelling arguments, and rich phenomenological descriptions. It is, finally, a refreshing reminder of what draws most of us to philosophy in the first place: to grapple with ultimate questions of human existence, with clarity of thought and expression, and without methodological evasions. The preposition “before”, coram in the Latin, has had a distinguished intellectual history since Luther discovered its importance in Jerome’s translation of the Bible. Steven DeLay comes after many theologians and philosophers who have described what man is “before God” — and who have done so because they found it fruitless to speak of man as he “is”, substantially and before all relation. This clear and precise book summarizes a long episode. An original contribution to philosophy, it also brings noteworthy precisions. Henry David Thoreau once wrote that “there are nowadays professors of philosophy, but no philosophers.” In this brief claim, Thoreau challenges the hyper-professionalization of a discourse in which far too many scholars write books about what someone else has said, but rarely write books actually saying something worth hearing. Steven DeLay is a striking and exciting counter to this trend. In the very best sense of the term: DeLay is a philosopher in that he is devoted to a life in which he sees his task as in line with Thoreau’s description: “to love wisdom and to live according to its dictates.” In this strikingly original account, he offers a constructive vision of philosophy as religiously implicated. Far from simply being a book “about” philosophers and theologians, Before God itself stands as an “exercise” in thinking and living well. Ultimately, whether one offers “amens” or criticisms in response, DeLay invites us all to rethink our assumptions about God, others, and ourselves.