Jacques Derrida's Acts of Religion (original) (raw)
Related papers
Impossible God: Derrida's Theology (review)
2006
content and Russian religious thought. This is a particularly strange omission coming from someone who is a specialist precisely in Russian religious thought. A second puzzle is that Kornblatt queries why Jews would convert specifically to Russian Orthodoxy, with its antisemitism, rather than another form of Christianity—as if antisemitism were not something that historically existed to an equal, if not greater, degree in Protestantism and Catholicism (though perhaps antisemitism is stronger in Russian Orthodoxy than in other Christian confessions today). Finally, students of comparative religion might wish for a deeper engagement with the theoretical literature on conversions. Despite any shortcomings, however, the book provides provocative insights into the nature of religious versus ethnic identity and the fluidity of multiple identities in a postmodern world, as well as deepening our understanding of Soviet Jewry. The book will be of interest to a broad range of students and sch...
Religions 13(5), 438, 2022
Abstract: I propose a new reading of a selection of continental philosophical interpretations of the nature of existentialism after the dialogical turn. This analysis will focus on the particular case study of the biblical character of Abraham as a case in point. Philosophical treatments thereof allow for a consideration of different but connected approaches through the study and re-readings of the character of Abraham, which begin with Kierkegaard’s well-known rendition of the sacrifice of Isaac. This study will focus on interpretations since Kierkegaard, with attention to the continental philosophical trend. The four thinkers I bring, all offered critiques, and even rejections of, a purely existential position. These positions are well-known in the field. However, Existentialism is never actually overcome despite these four critiques of Kierkegaard’s model of Abraham. I will demonstrate this through an analysis of the case of interpretations of the biblical figure of Abraham, showing the ways in which Kierkegaard remains present in dialogical philosophy and even deconstructionism. For Franz Rosenzweig, his stance is relational and thus is fascinated yet ambivalent towards the readiness of Abraham to sacrifice; Emmanuel Levinas admires Kierkegaard’s emphasis on the subject/ivity (Proper Names and Difficult Freedom); Jacques Derrida admires Abraham’s passion (Gift of Death and Abraham as Other); and for Jean-Luc Marion, Abraham’s sacrifice does not present a relinquishing of self, but rather, the phenomenological act symbolises returning a Gift. Keywords: modern philosophy; religious existentialism; continental philosophical theology; Franz Rosenzweig; Emmanuel Levinas; Jacques Derrida; Jean-Luc Marion
Religion as Response: Derrida's Responsibility to the Question of the Question
2016
fullest treatment of religion comes . In it he states, Of the origins and borders of the question as of the response. In this thesis I explore to and fro of question and response as a means for thinking through what is taking place in the event of religion. nd the way it engages with four thinkers who influence his exploration of religion as response: Heidegger, Kant, Levinas and Kierkegaard. The thesis reveals that, rather than approaching religion as a site to be excavated and examined as if we might get to its interests lie in the event of religion that would exceed thematisation. As such, he attempts a way to speak of religion without ever saying what religion is, for when it comes to religion everything tends to drop out of sight as soon as knowledge is framed in terms of mastery. For Derrida, knowledge is not opposed to faith, but rather something that is infused with faith as it participates in the fiduciary opening that performativity affords. This faith-filled reasoning ope...
Another, Other Abraham: Derrida's Figuring of Levinas's Judaism
Shofar, 2009
Through a comparison of Derrida' s late essay "Abraham, l' autre" with Gift of Death and Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas this essay illustrates how Derrida in "Abraham, l' autre" extends his efforts to derive a political thinking from Levinas' s ethics. At the heart of this political thinking is the mode of "being-Jewish" which Derrida describes as "the experience of deconstruction itself, its chance, its menace, its destiny, its earthquake." Derrida develops a self-deconstructing model of identity by way of the mode of "being Jewish," and in so doing simultaneously critiques Levinas for his use of Judaism as an exemplary model of ethical thinking and capitalizes off the tensions arising out of this model, such that the figure of the Jew becomes ironically exemplary for Derrida of a political identity that would call into question the possibility that one could ever claim it as one' s own.
Abrahamic Figurations of Responsibility: Religion Without Religion in Derrida and Marion
Phainomena, 2017
Abraham has played a prominent role in recent developments in phenomenology and, in particular, continental philosophy of religion. This paper examines the importance that the scene of Genesis 22 plays in both Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion’s contributions to continental philosophy of religion. Specifically, I argue that Derrida and Marion turn to this scene of the binding of Isaac in order to describe the way in which our ethical life is structured religiously around the theme of sacrifice. In this, sacrifice brings an impetus to ethical life that includes a comportment to the other but also extends beyond the other to include the givenness of phenomena themselves.
"Messianicity Without Messianism": On the Place of Religion in the Philosophy of Jacques Derrida
Changing Societies & Personalities, 2020
This article examines Jacques Derrida's concept of "messianicité sans messianisme" ("messianicity without messianism") as an important example of rethinking the role and nature of religion in the late period of the work of the philosopher. Historical and philosophical analysis demonstrates that the appeal to the problem of messianism is inherent to many Jewish philosophers of the early twentieth century. They tried to develop a concept of time that would maintain full openness to the future and at the same time remember the past. Their work affected the interpretation of messianism in Derrida, because he developed his concept in discussion with Walter Benjamin and Emmanuel Lévinas. As the most general structure of the experience of justice, openness to the undecidable future, and respect for other messianicity do not exclude the religious manifestations of messianism, calling instead for the unceasing deconstruction of their fundamentalist claims.