The Middle Voice in Gadamer's Hermeneutics: A Basic Interpretation with Some Theological Implications

Philippe Eberhard proposes a medial interpretation of Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics and draws theological implications concerning faith and our human condition from a Christian humanist standpoint. He brings into focus the middle voice as a way to articulate what it means to listen to language and the Word.His thesis is twofold. First, the hermeneutic event is medial throughout. The core of the mediality of hermeneutics is the subtle balance between the event of understanding, which happens to the subject, and the subject who understands within it. Second, the mediality of understanding is the primary reason why hermeneutics is theologically meaningful. Both understanding as well as faith and theology are medial experiences leading to an always renewed understanding of what it is to be a human being in the world.