Agamben and Theology
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Hardback
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Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9780567221384
Number of Pages: 240
Published: 28/04/2011
Width: 13.8 cm
Height: 21.6 cm
This is a view of the work of philosopher Giorgio Agamben in relation to his own most basic theological premises and the discipline of theology. Though the work of Italian theorist Giorgio Agamben has been increasing in popularity over the last several years in the English-speaking world, little work has been done directly on the theological legacy which actually dominates the overall force of his critical analyses, a topic which has intrigued his readers since the publication of his short book on Saint Paul's 'Letter to the Romans'. "Agamben and Theology" intends to illuminate such a connection by examining the theologically inflected terms that have come to dominate his work over time, including the messianic, the sacred, sovereignty, glory, creation, original sin, redemption and revelation. "The Philosophy and Theology" series looks at major philosophers and explores their relevance to theological thought as well as the response of theology.
1) Toward a poetic atheology: Defining the scission between poetry and philosophy; 2) The 'original sin' of classification: The 'society of the spectacle' and the state of signification; 3) Biopolitics and the theological body: The figure of 'bare life', or the homo sacer; 4) The profanation of revelation: On language as the name of God; 5) The weak force of the messianic: From Benjamin to Saint Paul and back again. 6) Citing authority: The role of canonical representations; 7) Potentiality as a force of creation and de-creation; 8) On tragedy and hope: The 'return' of the Divine Comedy.
'This is a well-written, lucid and remarkably comprehensive introduction to a wide-ranging and intellectually challenging contemporary thinker. Exploring the extremities of what it is to be human, and a linguistic animal, Agamben's work pushes at the frontier where divine plenitude can becoming a terrifying absence that makes all our sovereignties and distinctions mere configurations of the will to power. In the gap between these possibilities and ambiguities, Agamben announces a messianic 'yes' to our bare existence. Dickinson's book clearly shows that all of Agamben's fundamental questions are theological in provenance and resonance. So anyone interested in the relationship between theology and contemporary continental thinking should read this...and ponder.' - Graham Ward, Professor in Contextual Theology and Ethics, University of Manchester, UK.--Sanford Lakoff