Eduard Fiedler
Eduard Fiedler is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology, Palacký University in Olomouc. He is also the Principal Investigator of the project "Trinitarian Ontologies: A New Philosophical Investigation into Trinitarian Relationality” (TRIERTIUM).
Since 2024 he is a member of the editorial board of the Czech edition of ICR Communio. Since 2023, he serves as a member of the scientific board of the Jan Amos Komenský Museum in Uherský Brod and as a member of the editorial board of the journal Studia comeniana et historica. In 2023 he was honoured by being called a full member of the Geisteswissenschaftlichen Klasse, Sudetendeutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste (München).
In the past, he has participated in the project "Trinitarian Ontology of the Human Person" at Charles University in Prague (2021-2023), and co-organized the international conference on Trinitarian Ontology and Personalism in Prague (2023) as well as the New Trinitarian Ontologies EuARe Panel in Münster (2021).
He studied law and legal science in Brno and theology in Prague. PhD studies in philosophy and aesthetics in Brno and Regensburg. During his doctoral studies he was awarded a KAAD scholarship.
Address: 3.22. (Office Room)
Palacký University Olomouc
Univerzitní 244/22
779 00 Olomouc
Since 2024 he is a member of the editorial board of the Czech edition of ICR Communio. Since 2023, he serves as a member of the scientific board of the Jan Amos Komenský Museum in Uherský Brod and as a member of the editorial board of the journal Studia comeniana et historica. In 2023 he was honoured by being called a full member of the Geisteswissenschaftlichen Klasse, Sudetendeutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste (München).
In the past, he has participated in the project "Trinitarian Ontology of the Human Person" at Charles University in Prague (2021-2023), and co-organized the international conference on Trinitarian Ontology and Personalism in Prague (2023) as well as the New Trinitarian Ontologies EuARe Panel in Münster (2021).
He studied law and legal science in Brno and theology in Prague. PhD studies in philosophy and aesthetics in Brno and Regensburg. During his doctoral studies he was awarded a KAAD scholarship.
Address: 3.22. (Office Room)
Palacký University Olomouc
Univerzitní 244/22
779 00 Olomouc
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Trinitarian Ontology/Metaphysics by Eduard Fiedler
Eduard Fiedler responds to the Genealogies of Modernity podcast
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The German Catholic philosopher, theologian, and bishop Klaus Hemmerle (1929–1994) is known primarily as the author of a prophetic treatise Theses Towards a Trinitarian Ontology (1976). The recent theological, metaphysical, or phenomenological engagement with Hemmerle’s work in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere stimulated new interest in the philosophical meaning of the Trinitarian mystery. How are we to understand the meaning of the created gift of being if its divine giver is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? How does our understanding of reality change if its meaning is Trinitarian self-giving?
The monograph "The Self-Giving of Christ: A Christological Fundament of Klaus Hemmerle's Trinitarian Ontology" approaches these questions from a Christological perspective in relation to the entire theological and philosophical work of Klaus Hemmerle. The practical following of Jesus Christ brings us to the mystery of his both creatural and divine self-giving. By radically mediating the utmost reality of God's interpersonal love, Christ's self-giving becomes the starting point for a renewed understanding of being in Christian ontology or metaphysics.
The author therefore first explores various historical forms of the relationship between Christology and metaphysics. Against this background, he identifies the specific significance of Klaus Hemmerle's work, emphasizing its connection to Hemmerle's Christian life and ministry. The systematic reconstruction of the Christological fundament of Klaus Hemmerle's Trinitarian ontology then points to Christian metaphysics as a metaphysics of suffering and love, which opens up in a horizon of being defined on the one hand by the abysmal "why" of all suffering, and on the other by the abysmal and extreme love that takes this suffering upon itself. Thus, a meaningful metaphysical reflection, beginning at once in wondering joy at the nearness of the Word and in shaken compassion at the suffering of the Flesh, must be a systematic integration of these two mysteries. The proper place of this integration is the life of man. A true metaphysical reflection only makes explicit and clarifies what is essentially taking place in the patient daily life and thought of ordinary people.
The aim of our paper is to introduce the reader into the problematics of Trinitarian ontology with respect to the theological and philosophical legacy of J. A. Komenský and to the international conference New Trinitarian Ontologies (Cambridge, September 2019). First, the paper presents the basic ideas of Trinitarian ontology (theologico-philosophical movement trying to develop the ontology on the basis of the Christian doctrine of Trinity) and its relations to current philosophical questions. Subsequently, it highlights the most important moments of the above-mentioned confer- ence, acquainting the reader with the width of current research. Finally, it focuses on Komenský’s thoughts, as interpreted by J. Milbank.
The Philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa – An Introduction into His Thinking Pavel Floss Basel: Schwabe Verlag 2020. 353 s.
Eduard Fiedler responds to the Genealogies of Modernity podcast
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The German Catholic philosopher, theologian, and bishop Klaus Hemmerle (1929–1994) is known primarily as the author of a prophetic treatise Theses Towards a Trinitarian Ontology (1976). The recent theological, metaphysical, or phenomenological engagement with Hemmerle’s work in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere stimulated new interest in the philosophical meaning of the Trinitarian mystery. How are we to understand the meaning of the created gift of being if its divine giver is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? How does our understanding of reality change if its meaning is Trinitarian self-giving?
The monograph "The Self-Giving of Christ: A Christological Fundament of Klaus Hemmerle's Trinitarian Ontology" approaches these questions from a Christological perspective in relation to the entire theological and philosophical work of Klaus Hemmerle. The practical following of Jesus Christ brings us to the mystery of his both creatural and divine self-giving. By radically mediating the utmost reality of God's interpersonal love, Christ's self-giving becomes the starting point for a renewed understanding of being in Christian ontology or metaphysics.
The author therefore first explores various historical forms of the relationship between Christology and metaphysics. Against this background, he identifies the specific significance of Klaus Hemmerle's work, emphasizing its connection to Hemmerle's Christian life and ministry. The systematic reconstruction of the Christological fundament of Klaus Hemmerle's Trinitarian ontology then points to Christian metaphysics as a metaphysics of suffering and love, which opens up in a horizon of being defined on the one hand by the abysmal "why" of all suffering, and on the other by the abysmal and extreme love that takes this suffering upon itself. Thus, a meaningful metaphysical reflection, beginning at once in wondering joy at the nearness of the Word and in shaken compassion at the suffering of the Flesh, must be a systematic integration of these two mysteries. The proper place of this integration is the life of man. A true metaphysical reflection only makes explicit and clarifies what is essentially taking place in the patient daily life and thought of ordinary people.
The aim of our paper is to introduce the reader into the problematics of Trinitarian ontology with respect to the theological and philosophical legacy of J. A. Komenský and to the international conference New Trinitarian Ontologies (Cambridge, September 2019). First, the paper presents the basic ideas of Trinitarian ontology (theologico-philosophical movement trying to develop the ontology on the basis of the Christian doctrine of Trinity) and its relations to current philosophical questions. Subsequently, it highlights the most important moments of the above-mentioned confer- ence, acquainting the reader with the width of current research. Finally, it focuses on Komenský’s thoughts, as interpreted by J. Milbank.
The Philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa – An Introduction into His Thinking Pavel Floss Basel: Schwabe Verlag 2020. 353 s.
Ich sage, dass ich ein kirchlicher Christ bin und es auch bleiben will. Aber wenn ich das so zum Ausdruck bringe, betrifft meine Aussage nicht nur meine eigene Identität und die Identität der Kirche (die vergangene, aktuelle und zukünftige); sie betrifft auch – und zwar ganz wesentlich – die schmale Mitte zwischen mir und der Kirche, d. h. das personale Zusammengehören von meiner Identität und der Kirche...
Andreas Arndt / Tobias Rosefeldt (Hg.), Schleiermacher / Hegel: 250. Geburtstag Schleiermachers / 200 Jahre Hegel in Berlin, (Hegel-Jahrbuch. Sonderband 13), 284 S., Verlag Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2020
While the history of how we speak of persons has been shaped by both Christological and Trinitarian dogma, and vice versa, this interplay has remained rather obscure and associated with several traditional definitions in an otherwise fragmented philosophical and theological landscape. The modern personalism of the 20th century has often sought to distinguish more clearly the being of persons from the being of things, either by emphasizing the incommunicable depth of the substantial grounding of personhood or, conversely, by stressing its exclusively dialogical, ethical or relational origin. Both of these usual variants of the modern personalism, however, appear one-sided in the face of the Church's tradition of the theological experience of Jesus Christ bringing us into full communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit.
If there is no such thing as a neutral ontology outside of and apart from the Triune Creator and his creation, the way we speak of persons must be analogous and must include both the metaphysics of the substantial relationality of divine persons and the phenomenology of finite being in which the dimensions of substantial identity and relational relevance appear to have distinct meaning. In this perspective, the distinction between the being of persons and things is also made known in a new way, because the Father is at the same time the Principle, the Son is at the same time the Word, and the Spirit is at the same time the Gift of the Father and the Son. All the implications of this transformation in theological and philosophical anthropology, social ontology, political philosophy and spiritual theology have yet to be named.
Within the project Trinitarian Ontology of the Human Person (2021–2023) we have previously co-organized the New Trinitarian Ontologies EuARe Panel 2021 in Münster and hosted the first Czech-Slovak Trinitarian Ontology Conference in Prague. We propose to continue this project as we convene the Persons from the Trinity: Trinitarian Ontology and Personalism international conference on 26 April 2023 at the Catholic Theological Faculty, Charles University, Prague.
Following the conference we will prepare an edited volume with conference papers. We will be in contact with you about this project.