Gabriel Marcel on Creative Fidelity, Hope, and Transcendence

Abstract

Despite the materialistic and secularistic tendencies of the world today, we cannot ignore our relationship with God. Our existence as human beings is defined by our relationship with our fellow men and God. Two values that characterize our relationship with our fellow men and God are fidelity and hope, which were the focus of the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel. In this paper, I discuss Marcel’s notions of creative fidelity and hope to show how they serve as the foundation of our relationship with our fellow men and the transcendent and mysterious being. Creative fidelity and hope lead us to the source of our being – the transcendent being – God.

Keywords: fidelity, hope, transcendence, Gabriel Marcel.