Jean-Luc Marion, Believing in Order to See: On the Rationality of Revelation and the

Irrationality of Some Believers, trans. Christina M. Gschwandtner, New York: Fordham

University Press, 2017, 170 pp.

Previously published in French in 2009, this important collection of essays by one of the world’s
leading continental philosophers of religion results from the enterprising advances of Fordham’s
‘Perspectives on Continental Philosophy’ series and the diligent efforts of translation by
Christina Gschwandtner. The organizing principle for this collection of work that spans Marion’s
career from 1979 to 2009 is the curious juxtaposition of faith and reason, around which the
author claims, ‘faith and reason, in the case of Christian and more particularly Catholic thought,
not only contradict each other today less than ever, but that the very question of their supposed
conflict has no meaning and should not even be raised’ (xi). Instead, Marion asserts that, ‘What
matters is not seeing, that is to say knowing based on rational evidence in the (sensible and
intelligible) light of reason in order then better to believe (hold as true or affirm), but to the
contrary, believing in order to see and conceive’ (xiii). As controversial as this claim might
appear, it represents well the philosopher’s body of work and his representative lead in the so-
called ‘theological turn’ of contemporary continental philosophy. Addressing many of the major
themes of his work, these essays deal with familiar concepts in Marion such as ‘the gift,’
revelation, the sacraments, and transcendence, but whereas these emblems of his post-
metaphysical perspective might seem difficult or obtuse for most, readers will be glad to learn
that many of the essays in this volume first appeared in Communio, a lay Roman Catholic
theological journal in France. Thus, this collection will prove an immensely valuable starting
point and companion of his larger works for students, post-graduate researchers, and faculty who
need an entry point for one of the most prolific and most creative philosophers addressing
theological concerns today.

Taylor Worley, Ph.D.

Trinity International University