Introduction

The Patočka Booth is a three-part series of interviews on the Czech philosopher and dissident, Jan Patočka (1907–77). Interviews will explore his philosophical and political thought, his biography and context, and his import for theology.

Martin Koci is associate professor at KU Linz, Austria. He is the author of Christianity after Christendom: Heretical Essays in Philosophical Theology (2023) and the award-winning Thinking Faith after Christianity: A Theological Reading of Jan Patočka’s Phenomenological Philosophy (2020). Martin is also an editor of numerous volumes—the most recent being God and Phenomenology: Thinking with Jean-Yves Lacoste (Cascade, 2023). His research interests includes the dialogue between phenomenology and theology, and the postmodern context of Christianity.  

PODCAST LINKS:

Martin’s website: https://www.philosoffee.eu/

Martin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/koci_martin?lang=en

Martin’s faculty page: https://ku-linz.at/en/theology/institutes/fundamental_theology_and_dogmatic_theology/staff?tx_persons_personlist%5Baction%5D=show&tx_persons_personlist%5Bcontroller%5D=Person&tx_persons_personlist%5Bperson%5D=356&cHash=f38aadc3637d3f254b1e5ee090a0454a

Thinking Faith after Christianity: https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/Thinking-Faith-after-Christianity

Christianity after Christendom: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/christianity-after-christendom-9781350322646/

CONNECT:

Website: https://wipfandstock.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wipfandstock

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wipfandstock

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wipfandstock/

SOURCES MENTIONED:

Day, Barbara. The Velvet Philosophers.

Janicaud, Dominque, et al. Phenomenology and the Theological Turn: The French Debate.

Koci, Martin. Christianity after Christendom: Heretical Perspectives in Philosophical Theology.

———. God and Phenomenology: Thinking with Jean-Yves Lacoste.

———. Thinking Faith after Christianity: A Theological Reading of Jan Patočka’s Phenomenological Philosophy.

Patočka, Jan. Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History.

———. The Selected Writings of Jan Patočka: Care for the Soul.

OUTLINE:

(02:23) – Jan Patočka and French phenomenology

(04:24) – Roundtable: Jan Patočka, Emmanuel Falque, Roger Scruton, Jacques Derrida

(07:39) – Underground seminars

(09:48) – Biographical and intellectual sketches

(18:54) – Themes: philosophy of history, asubjective phenomenology

(21:52) – An unsystematic thinker

(25:24) – Relationship to Christianity

(29:39) – Mediating philosophy and theology

(32:47) – Reading Patočka alongside the “theological turn”

(38:03) – Christianity as “un-thought-through”

(45:35) – Outreach/elan/life-force

(48:01) – Ethics and the struggle against decadence

(50:19) – “Problematicity” and the “solidarity of the shaken”

(55:20) – The “sacrifice for nothing”

(01:00:47) – What’s next for Martin

(01:03:49) – Where to find Martin