Telephone number:	+31 (0)71 527 2009
E-Mail:	r.d.n.van.riessen@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department:	Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte
Office Address:	Witte Singel-complex Witte Singel 25/M. de Vrieshof 4 2311 BZ Leiden Room number 1.05a

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Personal information

Renée van Riessen (Lunteren 1954) holds the chair for Christian Philosophy. As extraordinary professor she teaches courses on philosophy in relation to the Christian  and Jewish perspective (worldview); focussing on questions as the relation of finiteness and infinity; transcendence and immanence; the relation of self and other, and the art of living.

Besides the professorship in Leiden, she is senior lecturer of philosophy of religion at the Protestant Theological University (Kampen/Groningen).

The Chair of Christian Philosophy

The Chair of Christian Philosophy was found in 1948 by the Association of Reformational Philosophy. This Association advances reflective thinking on the relation of philosophy, science and Christian religion.

Research

The first line of research concerns theories of transcendence in relation to moral, esthetic 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, Kierkegaard and Dooyeweerd with positions in  contemporary  philosophy in the tradition of Husserl  (Levinas, Marion, Lyotard, Derrida).

Key publications

• 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).

See for a complete list of Van Riessen’s publications on the website of PThU.