This article proposes a new approach to employing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy in the philosophy of religion. Rather than finding a latent theology in Merleau-Ponty – as some interpreters do – this article argues that Merleau-Ponty's later ontology can provide the basis for a philosophical anthropology which can help us understand why human beings are drawn to religion and how this is expressed in affective and ritual practice. This ontology can help us to understand the notion of freedom as it applies to affective, embodied, and ritual religious practices and begins to sketch out how freedom might be understood in light of embodiment.

中文翻译：

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莫里斯·梅洛-庞蒂与宗教哲学

本文提出了一种在宗教哲学中运用莫里斯·梅洛-庞蒂哲学的新方法。本文没有像一些解释者那样在梅洛-庞蒂身上找到潜在的神学，而是认为梅洛-庞蒂后来的本体论可以为哲学人类学提供基础，这可以帮助我们理解为什么人类被宗教所吸引以及它是如何表达的在情感和仪式实践中。这种本体论可以帮助我们理解自由的概念，因为它适用于情感的、体现的和仪式的宗教实践，并开始勾勒出如何根据体现来理解自由。