RT Article T1 Transcendence Un-Extra-Ordinaire: Bringing the Atheistic I Down to Earth JF Religions VO 8 IS 1 SP 1 OP 21 A1 Dickman, Nathan Eric LA English PB MDPI YR 2017 UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1586127284 AB I examine challenges to images of a personal god definitive for normatively policed theism (often called “traditional theism”), questioning whether a subject can be conscious of a transcendent being. I examine the challenges to show that disappointment with such images calls for rethinking terms like “transcendence” in horizontal rather than vertical registers. Through this, I indicate an irony in yearning for transcendence, one in which there is movement toward—rather than beyond—the utterly ordinary. We will see that such un-extra-ordinary transcendence makes a difference once difference is no longer determined under the hegemony of what Levinas calls “the atheistic I.” I bring together resources from feminist philosophies and Asian religions both to elaborate on the nature of the atheistic I and to rehabilitate a redeeming appreciation of the ordinary. My hope is to ameliorate disempowered estrangement by indicating ways the ordinary generates, not inhibits, becoming. However, my broader intent is to contribute to shifting sands in contemporary philosophy of religion due to recent calls for diversifying the field by including multiple religions, questioning the centrality of belief, and engaging multiple methods relevant in religious studies. K1 Feuerbach K1 Irigaray K1 Levinas K1 Ricoeur K1 Zhuangzi K1 Metaphor K1 Semantics K1 The Ordinary K1 Traditional Theism K1 Transcendence DO 10.3390/rel8010004