CONTENTS: Foreword General Introduction Part I: On Interpretation 1. Natural Hermeneutics 1.1. The Hermeneutical Animal 1.2. Human Transcendence 1.3. The Rationalist Stance 1.4. The Pre-rational Moment 1.5. Fides Quaerens Intellectum (Faith Seeking Understanding) 1.6. Asking the Right Question 1.7. Levels of Meaning 1.8. Perennial Philosophy 1.9. Healthy Hermeneutical Attitudes 1.10. The Three Canons of a Healthy Natural Hermeneutics 2. Technical Hermeneutics 2.1. From Dilletantism to Symbol 2.2. Hermeneutic of Texts or of Reality? 2.3. The Dynamism of Interpretation – Sharing 2.4. The Lessons of Technical Hermeneutics Conclusion Part II: On Transcendence 3. The Phenomenon of Transcendence 3.1. The Meaning of Transcendence 3.2. Two Possibilities 3.3. The Metaphysical Roots of Human Subjective Transcendence 3.4. A “Proof” for God’s Existence 3.5. The Search for Meaning 3.6. The Experience of Contingency 3.7. The Responsibility to Listen 3.8. The Fear of Transcendence 3.9. Silence 3.10. Homo Secularis Conclusion Part III: On Interpretations of Transcendence 4. The Symbolics of Religious Language 4.1. In Search of an Appropriate Language 4.2. The Symbol 4.3. The Myth 5. The Symbolics of Religious Rites 5.1. Secular Rites 5.2. Religious Rites 6. The Symbolics of Contemporary Religious Thought 6.1. Bonhoeffer’s Interpretation 6.2. Man’s Ambivalence 6.3. The Symbolics of Travel-Imagery 6.4. Ricoeur and the Nietzsche-Marx-Freud Triad 6.5. Nietzsche’s Contribution 6.6. The Contribution of Marx 6.7. The Contribution of Freud 6.8. The Contribution of Spontaneity 6.9. Hermeneutics and Idols General Conclusion Bibliography