Books
Having released three monographs and an edited book, Joseph welcomes inquiries to discuss further the many themes and figures explored throughout. They touch on the most basic concepts a philosopher can ask: what is the self? What is experience? How do we live together and talk together?​ How do thinking and feeling relate to each other? Is there an ultimate or a Real, and if so, how may we experience the Real?
Phenomenology and the Horizon of Experience (2022)
Spiritual Themes in Henry, Marion, Lacoste
This book explores the threshold between phenomenology and lived religion in dialogue with three French luminaries: Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, and Jean-Yves Lacoste. Through close reading and critical analysis, each chapter touches on how a liturgical and ritual setting or a spiritual vision of the body can shape and ultimately structure the experience of an individual’s surrounding world. The volume advances debate about the scope and limits of the phenomenological analysis of religious themes and disturbs the assumption that theology and phenomenology are incapable of constructive interdisciplinary dialogue.
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"At times, the author moves effortlessly from analytic philosophy to medieval theology through phenomenology and into literary prose all within one page. Yet this diversity and these methodological transitions do not distract from how this still is a serious work of phenomenology. While accessible and interdisciplinary, it is not merely another repetition of hermeneutic explanation of those great ‘fathers’ of the theological turn. It carefully assesses their work and develops its own original argument and novel concepts." - Jason Alvis in Modern Theology
The Contemplative Self after Michel Henry (2015)
A Phenomenological Theology
In The Contemplative Self after Michel Henry: A Phenomenological Theology, Joseph Rivera provides a close and critical reconstruction of the philosophical anthropology of Michel Henry (1922–2002) while also addressing the question of how theology contributes to Henry’s phenomenology. In conversation with other French figures such as Derrida, Marion, Lacoste, and Barbaras, Rivera undertakes a global thematic study of Henry’s work. He shows how, for Henry, the theological debate is shifted onto a phenomenological problem, with a coincident will to pursue the epistemological efforts of Husserl and Heidegger.
The chapters tackle some of the most pressing debates in contemporary Continental philosophy, such as the “modern ego,” the nature and experience of temporality, and the constitution of the body and otherness, and how a theological discourse may illumine those anthropological structures. The book expands on the modern narrative of the self from Descartes to Nietzsche, opens up the particular lines of inquiry Henry advances in dialogue with those figures and phenomenology in particular, and highlights the surprising theological turns in Henry’s late work on Christianity.
Because Henry’s work is difficult, it is often misunderstood; Rivera’s own vision of the self, one that is shaped by Henry but not in full agreement with him, advances insights internal to Henry but also brings into sharp focus many problematic points in Henry’s phenomenological theology. An array of classical theological voices appear in the final chapters, such as St. Augustine, Tertullian, Irenaeus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Gregory of Nyssa, all of whom are set in dialogue with Henry. A fresh and creative articulation of contemplation and selfhood, the volume is a valuable addition to the continuing conversation that seeks to build bridges between phenomenology and theology.
Political Theology and Pluralism (2018)
Renewing Public Dialogue
Reviving the ancient political wisdom of St. Augustine in combination with insights drawn from contemporary political theorist John Rawls, Joseph Rivera grapples with the polarizing nature of religion in the public square. Political theology, as a discipline, tends to argue that communitarianism remains the only viable political option for religious practioners in a complex, pluralist society. Unsurprisingly, we are increasingly accustomed to think the religious voice is anti-secular and illiberal. On the contrary, Christian theology and political liberalism, Rivera argues, are not incompatible. Political Theology and Pluralism challenges the longstanding antithesis between theology and political liberalism by asking his readers to focus not on difference, but on our common humanity. Outlining real strategies for public dialogue in a liberal state, Rivera offers the opportunity to discover what it means to practice civic friendship in pluralist context.