Article
Ricoeur, Metz, and the Future of Dangerous Memory
Literature and Theology
(2013)
Abstract
This article puts Paul Ricoeur’s work into interdisciplinary conversation with theology by engagement with Johann Baptist Metz’s concept of dangerous memory. In particular, it tests this concept, which Metz posits as the basis of hope for an eschatological future, against Ricoeur’s idea of memory as articulated in Memory, History, Forgetting. Following a thorough analysis of Metz on dangerous memory, it turns to an account of Ricoeur’s rich analysis of memory, which deals with this question on several levels—historical, philosophical, and psychological. Ricoeur also takes an interest in memory as a question of justice, which connects well to Metz’s political concerns. Ricoeur’s conception of memory in a sense deepens that of Metz by going further into the mechanisms of how memory operates and how it deals with the past, while Metz’s idea of memory as future adds an immediacy to their shared concern for justice. These two formulations of memory, while at first glance concerned with very different aspects of it, turn out to be quite compatible. Ultimately, drawing connections between Ricoeur and Metz proves fruitful for understanding memory and thus sheds light on both of their intellectual projects.
Keywords
- Paul Ricoeur,
- Johann Baptist Metz,
- theology,
- dangerous memory
Publication Date
June, 2013
DOI
10.1093/litthe/frt010
Publisher Statement
© The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press 2013; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
Citation Information
Rober, Daniel A. Ricoeur, Metz, and the Future of Dangerous Memory. Literature and Theology (2013) 27 (2): 196-207 first published online April 12, 2013 doi:10.1093/litthe/frt010