Heidegger’s Pauline and Lutheran Roots

In this work of philosophy, theology, and intellectual history, Duane Armitage offers a clear interpretation of Heidegger's enigmatic theology as uniquely Pauline and Lutheran. He argues that the real impetus, aim, and structure of Heidegger's philosophy of religion as well as his philosophy as a whole, are rooted in Pauline (and Lutheran) ontology. He thus demonstrates that continental philosophy of religion, and, to an extent, Continental Philosophy as a whole, is indebted to St. Paul and Martin Luther. This examination also shows how much of continental thinking itself is traceable to Heidegger's onto-theological critique and hence to Luther and St. Paul. Armitage argues that St. Paul and Luther, or at least Luther's specific reading of St. Paul, remain the un-thought origins of postmodern thinking on religion, and perhaps postmodern thinking in general.