Theological Reflexivity in Gadamer’s Hermeneutics

The aim of this article is to show that Gadamer's relationship with Christian theology, although non-partisan, is reflexive in his hermeneutic theory, which nevertheless claims to be philosophical. In this sense, the article takes as its starting point a double relationship, that of his link with pietistic Protestantism and that of his proximity to the theories of theologians and philosophers recognised as having been developed according to a 'religious disposition'. The analysis presented here reflects this reflexivity on the part of the author, and at the same time highlights the fact that it is a reflexivity that unfolds performatively. For the author, there is no such thing as research devoid of epistemological innocence. However, such a stance, which is antithetical to positivism, is polemical in that it reintroduces subjectivity into research, even though it may offer an entirely different route to truth.