C. Jouco Bleeker

Bleeker was born in Beneden Knijpe (now De Knipe), Netherlands, and went to school in Leeuwarden before attending the University of Leiden to study Theology.

While at Leiden, Bleeker specialised in Egyptology and the history of religions and was influenced by his tutor, William Brede Kristensen.

[4] Following the thought of Gerard van der Leeuw, Bleeker held that there are three key concepts for phenomenology of religion: the epoché, the eidetic vision, and intuitive insight—although he maintained that the epoché and the eidetic vision were related to the original Husserlian concepts only figuratively.

[4] For Bleeker, phenomenological inquiry comprises three main aspects: theoria, logos, and entelecheia.

[5] While both theoria and logos built upon the ideas of previous phenomenologists (in particular, van der Leeuw), entelecheia was Bleeker's own contribution to the discipline.

Aristotle's classic example of entelechy is an acorn, which manifests its essence through the process of becoming an oak tree.

Thus, entelecheia allows the scholar to observe the essence of religion unfolding in particular religious traditions throughout history.