Dr. R.D.N. van Riessen
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Professor by Special Appointment of Christian Philosophy (at Leiden University)
Community / Care
Research interests
- The first line of research concerns theories of transcendence in relation to moral, aesthetic and religious experience (Levinas, Lyotard and Agamben).
- The second line concerns the philosophical perspective of the soul and/or inner life, comparing and confronting classical Christian authors like Augustine and Kierkegaard with positions in contemporary philosophy in the phenomenological tradition (Levinas, Marion, Lyotard, Derrida).
Key publications
- Advancing Beyond Socrates? On Education, Inspiration and Inwardness in Kierkegaard and Levinas. Philosophia Reformata 78 (2013), No 1, 64-81.
- De ziel opnieuw. Over innerlijkheid, inspiratie en onderwijs. Amsterdam: Sjibbolet 2013.
- Renée D.N. van Riessen, Man as a Place of God, Levinas’ Hermeneutics of Kenosis, Dordrecht (Springer) 2007.
- Renée van Riessen (ed), Augustinus modern en postmodern gelezen, Budel (Damon) 2009.
- Renée van Riessen, ‘Creative Kenosis. Levinas and Christian Theology’, in: Responsibility, God and Society, Theological Ethics in Dialogue, Ed. J. De Tavernier et al., Leuven/Paris/Dudley, 2008 (143-162).
Besides my academic work in philosophy I am active as a poet in the Netherlands. My poetry was published in various literary magazines, and was collected in four volumes. Most recent volume: Krekels in de keuken [Crickets in the Kitchen] Amsterdam, Prometheus 2008.
