The linguistic method of the New Rhetoric and Argumentation (developed by authors such as Chaim Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca) seeks to persuade an audience utilizing logical and practical arguments, in order to achieve adherence to a thesis that wants to be effectively communicated. This method can be applied to biblical texts to convince about an issue and produce a performative (transforming) effect. This article aims to apply some elements of this method to the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37. Jesus, with the argumentative force of metaphor, not only answers the question “who is my neighbor?” but also reveals an eventual attribute of God: closeness. In the Samaritan, who is moved with compassion to care for a wounded man, God’s proximity is revealed. In the Samaritan’s mercy, God is manifested as an event of closeness.

The so-called “phenomenological turn” proposes a return to the world of lived experience, overcoming the rigidity of classical ontology. In this sense, theology also proposes to speak of God migrating from the world of the concept to life itself. Keeping in mind, then, that God gives himself in history as a Mystery of infinite love, it is necessary to find a new category that can express him, being faithful to the biblical testimony. The category chosen is “event,” as proposed by Claude Romano, who understands the event (happening) as the irruption of the unexpected that significantly affects everything that comes into contact with it. The parable of the Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) reveals God as an event of loving proximity, who mercifully bursts in through the actions of a Samaritan who saves the life of a seriously wounded man. The confirmation of the possibility of using the category “event” to speak of God is given only by means of a narrative method, for which we make use of the hermeneutical contributions of A. Wénin, who makes narrative the most appropriate language to express God’s traits, in this case, his merciful closeness.

Juan Antonio Estrada, a Spanish philosopher and theologian, proposes the search for meaning in life as the theological place for a valid experience of God. The “achieved” or fully realized life, to which every human being aspires, is the proposal of salvation that Jesus makes possible with the proclamation of the Reign and that opens a hopeful future with Easter. By bringing reason and faith into dialogue, Estrada contributes to fundamental theology by talking about God, not from the traditional concepts of classical theology, but from the human experience related to the search for a deep meaning for existence. Although this author emphasizes the elements of a problematic faith with unresolved issues and doubts – including the timeless challenge of theodicy – his agonizing and perplexed position is full of confidence in the certainty that God’s salvation plan will inevitably come true. In this contingent life, everything remains incomplete; yet God in Jesus gives the ultimate meaning for life that all human beings grope for. This fundamental issue of human reflection will be developed by going deeper into Estrada’s philosophical and theological work.