The Monstrosity of Christ

Paradox or Dialectic?
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-262-51620-4
Verlag: MIT Press

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 525 g

Reihe: Short Circuits

A militant Marxist atheist and a “Radical Orthodox” Christian theologian square off on everything from the meaning of theology and Christ to the war machine of corporate mafia.“What matters is not so much that Žižek is endorsing a demythologized, disenchanted Christianity without transcendence, as that he is offering in the end (despite what he sometimes claims) a heterodox version of Christian belief.”—John Milbank“To put it even more bluntly, my claim is that it is Milbank who is effectively guilty of heterodoxy, ultimately of a regression to paganism: in my atheism, I am more Christian than Milbank.”—Slavoj ŽižekIn this corner, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, a militant atheist who represents the critical-materialist stance against religion's illusions; in the other corner, “Radical Orthodox” theologian John Milbank, an influential and provocative thinker who argues that theology is the only foundation upon which knowledge, politics, and ethics can stand. In The Monstrosity of Christ, Žižek and Milbank go head to head for three rounds, employing an impressive arsenal of moves to advance their positions and press their respective advantages. By the closing bell, they have not only proven themselves worthy adversaries, they have shown that faith and reason are not simply and intractably opposed. Žižek has long been interested in the emancipatory potential offered by Christian theology. And Milbank, seeing global capitalism as the new century's greatest ethical challenge, has pushed his own ontology in more political and materialist directions. Their debate in The Monstrosity of Christ concerns the future of religion, secularity, and political hope in light of a monsterful event—God becoming human. For the first time since Žižek's turn toward theology, we have a true debate between an atheist and a theologian about the very meaning of theology, Christ, the Church, the Holy Ghost, Universality, and the foundations of logic. The result goes far beyond the popularized atheist/theist point/counterpoint of recent books by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others. Žižek begins, and Milbank answers, countering dialectics with “paradox.” The debate centers on the nature of and relation between paradox and parallax, between analogy and dialectics, between transcendent glory and liberation. Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher and cultural critic. He has published over thirty books, including Looking Awry, The Puppet and the Dwarf, and The Parallax View (these three published by the MIT Press). John Milbank is an influential Christian theologian and the author of Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason and other books. Creston Davis, who conceived of this encounter, studied under both Žižek and Milbank.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Zizek, Slavoj

Žižek, Slavoj

Milbank, John

Davis, Creston

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Apologetik, Kritik am Christentum
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Christliche Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Series Foreword Introduction: Holy Saturday or Resurrection Sunday? Staging an Unlikely Debate Creston Davis The Fear of Four Words: A Modest Plea for the Hegelian Reading of Christianity Slavoj Zizek The Double Glory, or Paradox versus Dialectics: On Not Quite Agreeing with Slavoj Žižek John Milbank Dialectical Clarity versus the Misty Conceit of Paradox Slavoj Zizek Index

Über Autor(innen)

Milbank, John
John Milbank is an influential Christian theologian and the author of Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason and other books.

Davis, Creston
Creston Davis, who conceived of the encounter between Slavoj Žižek and John Milbank, studied under both men.

Žižek, Slavoj
Slavoj Žižek, a philosopher and cultural critic, is Senior Researcher in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London. He is the author of more than thirty books, including Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture, The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity, The Parallax View, The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic (with John Milbank), and Žižek's Jokes (Did you hear the one about Hegel and negation?), these five published by the MIT Press.

John Milbank is an influential Christian theologian and the author of Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason and other books.