Aspects of a Philosophical Theology of Vocation

The phenomenological-existential discussion of “vocation” properly concludes in Chapter V. Yet it is continued from faith-perspectives in “the Abrahamic traditions.” From the philosophical perspective these are possible “likely stories” that make further claims about the origin and destiny of the “myself.” Of central importance for this historical prelude is Plotinus’s theory of there being a form of the individual person, e.g., Socrates. The sense of “form” here is intriguing for both volumes of this work. We also study Plotinus’ view that each’s calling is to her true self as it is at home Yonder exemplarily pre-existent in Nous. We then look at the theme of calling in the Judao-Christian traditions, especially the claim of Ephesians 1:4 in the New Testament that one is chosen before the world was created, thereby positing a kind of individuation per se and not per accidens, i.e., not through the contingencies of evolution, history, culture, biography, etc. From the angle of this work, especially how the first-person perspective plays itself out in philosophical theology as well how this is connected to a theology of vocation, we look at the ideas of thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckhart, John Ruusbroec, St. John of the Cross, Leibniz, Fichte, Kierkegaard, G.M. Hopkins, and Hans urs Von Balthasar. We return to a contrast of Plotinus and Christianity and briefly discuss the relevance of Sufism’s struggle to do justice to the first-person perspective in relation to mystic experience.