The Economy of the Gift: Paul Ricoeur's Poetic Redescription of Reality

摘要

This essay takes Paul Ricoeur's use of the phrase “economy of the gift” as an opportunity to explore the relationship between theology, ethics, and poetic redescription. A primay focus is Ricoeur's juxtaposition of the golden rule and the love command, the manner in which these two are poetically related by biblical discourse, and what this means for theological ethics. This focus offers the opportunity to explore some of the more radical implications of Ricoeur's claims about the poetic, redescriptive function of religious discourse, implications that were not adequately addressed by Ricoeur himself.