The Question of Meaning: A Theological and Philosophical Orientation

by Sauter, Gerhard

• ISBN13: 9780802807243
• ISBN10: 0802807240
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-11-01
• Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

Summary

In This Penetrating Study of the concept of meaning, Gerhard Sauter shows that -- contrary to popular belief -- the human quest for meaning is a relatively recent development, arising only after the deconstruction of metaphysics at the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, people have continually sought after the meaning of history, the meaning of their labors, their sufferings, their lives. In an attempt to construct new areas of orientation, meaning has become a dominant term in hermeneutics, in philosophy of language, in psychology, in sociology, in social theory, and in all domains influenced by them, including politics.

Author Biography

Gerhard Sauter is professor of systematic and ecumenical theology and director of the Ecumenical Institute, Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Bonn, Germany, and is an external member of the Faculty of Theology, Oxford University, England

Table of Contents

Translator's Preface	p. vi
Preface	p. vii
The Question	p. 1
The Senses, Sense, and Meaning	p. 5
Meaningful?	p. 21
Action and Meaning	p. 31
Genealogy of the Question: Meaning of History and Suffering	p. 61
The Religious Sense?	p. 73
Scripture and Meaning	p. 101
Sensory Images	p. 119
Meaning in the History of Jesus Christ	p. 127
God or Idols?	p. 143
Index of Names	p. 153
Index of Scripture References	p. 156
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