Revelation, Hermeneutics, and Phenomenology

The "Revelation, Hermeneutics, and Phenomenology" conference will be held October 8-11, 2026 at Boston College in Boston, MA and the Dover Retreat Center in Dover, MA.

The problem of ascertaining whether a particular experience or event is revelatory—given by the divine—is a crucial issue in both theology and philosophy of religion. Can experiences of God be distinguished from other sorts of “transcendent” or elevating phenomena (e.g., aesthetic ones), and what might be the characteristics of such experiences? Is God revealed or manifested in a particular way that can be identified? Is revelation a specific and unique experience that has a certain shape or identifiable structures? Various hermeneutic and phenomenological approaches raise such questions in new ways that challenge and broaden the propositional accounts of revelation given by much contemporary religious epistemology and theology. Bringing hermeneutic and phenomenological insights to bear on discussions in contemporary religious epistemology and theology enriches and widens narrow conceptions of revelation and presents new opportunities for unfolding how God is manifested.

Sponsored by:

Boston College Department of Theology, Boston College Department of Philosophy, Fordham University, New York, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich

Funded by:

Institute for the Liberal Arts at Boston College, Templeton Religion Trust, “Widening Horizons in Philosophical Theology,” University of St. Andrews

Registration is required to attend. Full details are available on our website.