John Betz, an associate professor in the Department of Theology, received an NEH Scholarly Editions and Scholarly Translations grant to create a critical edition of F.W.J. von Schelling’s original 1831-32 Munich lectures on the philosophy of revelation. The project coincides with a resurgence of international interest in Schelling and a larger project funded by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities to produce a complete historical-critical edition of Schelling’s works.
Betz, whose research focuses on German philosophy and theology from the 18th to 20th centuries, will co-direct the project “Schelling’s Philosophy of Revelation” with Marcela García-Romero, an associate professor of philosophy and expert on Schelling who teaches at Loyola Marymount University. Their project coincides with a resurgence of international interest in Schelling and a larger project funded by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities to produce a complete historical-critical edition of Schelling’s works.
It is a project Betz has hoped to do since he began his graduate studies in Tübingen, Germany, and lived in the seminary where Schelling once roomed with German philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Hölderlin.
“In Tübingen, Schelling is legendary,” Betz said. “You can strike up a conversation about him with just about anyone, from other students to shopkeepers. Ever since then, Schelling has stuck with me and is still one of my favorite philosophers.”
According to Betz and his team, which includes scholars from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Schelling’s 1831-32 Munich lectures represent one of the most profound attempts of any modern philosopher to wrestle with the nature and significance of religion and specifically with claims of divine revelation — or moments of divine self-disclosure.
“It’s not just that he’s a great philosopher who dared to think about big questions,” Betz said. “It’s that he took revelation with utmost seriousness and tried to understand what it means for us and for the world. Simply put, he thought revelation was worth all his mind.
“And that’s what connects Schelling to Notre Dame, because thinking about revelation in all earnestness is what the Catholic intellectual tradition is all about,” Betz said. “That’s why I’m excited about this project and very grateful to the NEH for being willing to support it.”
Originally published by at news.nd.edu on August 18, 2022.