The Danger in Over-analyzing (Phenomenology of Prayer)

November 22 2017
Dilthey and Heidegger claim religion, specifically Christianity, is a tool we need in order to fully experience life (Crowe 121). They say it is a tool that makes us more attentive and seek out the answers to the right questions. When a phenomenon occurs such as miraculous healing or vision, people turn to religion for answers.
There are two main ways to analyze such an event. The first way is to put the phenomenon into historical and developmental context, then investigate the motives. The other way to look at it is to classify it as a “supernatural problem”. This approach makes the phenomenon seem like a problem that can be traced back to the root (Crowe 122). As Heidegger explains, both of these methods to understanding phenomenon are wrong. They do not do justice to the subject matter, religious life (Crowe 123)

In order to do justice to religious life, we must forget what we know. Only when we let go, Heidegger says, can we “see the full richness of life” (Crowe 123). Humans constantly overthink things because we are constantly being stimulated. We attempt to divide our attention to too many things at once which ends in us not paying attention to anything at all. On the other hand, we may focus too much on a single thing while multiple things slip through our fingers. I believe Heidegger wants us to focus on the event itself and marvel at it for what it is. A phenomenon could be a sign from God that should be respected and given praise to, not dissected until it is unrecognizable.

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