From Phenomenology to Analogy

This book examines one of the earliest theological appropriations of phenomenology: Erich Przywara’s reformulation of the analogy of being as a phenomenological category. Drawing on recently discovered yet unpublished archival material, Scerri demonstrates and evaluates the overlooked personal and intellectual relationships between Przywara and three leading phenomenologists of his time—Husserl, Heidegger, and Scheler. This analysis reveals Przywara's deep engagement with the thought of these philosophers, as well as his appropriation of their phenomenology. This is particularly apparent in Przywara’s 1932 work Analogia Entis. Presenting this work as one of theological phenomenology, Scerri shows how Przywara's understanding of the analogy of being is simultaneously a reception, critique, and development of phenomenology in a theological mode. Rescuing Przywara from Karl Barth's shadow, From Phenomenology to Analogy sheds new light on Przywara, the analogy of being, and the complex relationship between theology and phenomenology.