The faith of the faithless : experiments in political theology / Simon Critchley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Critchley, Simon, 1960-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secularism.

Philosophy, Modern.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Physical Description:

ix, 291 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Verso Books, 2012.

Summary:

The return to religion has perhaps become the dominant cliche of contemporary theory, which rarely offers anything more than an exaggerated echo of a political reality dominated by religious war. Somehow, the secular age seems to have been replaced by a new era, where political action flows directly from metaphysical conflict. The Faith of the Faithless asks how we might respond. Following Critchley's Infinitely Demanding, this new book builds on its philosophical and political framework, also venturing into the questions of faith, love, religion and violence. Should we defend a version of secularism and quietly accept the slide into a form of theism--or is there another way? From Rousseau's politics and religion to the return to St. Paul in Taubes, Agamben and Badiou, via explorations of politics and original sin in the work of Schmitt and John Gray, Critchley examines whether there can be a faith of the faithless, a belief for unbelievers. Expanding on his debate with Slavoj Zizek, Critchley concludes with a meditation on the question of violence, and the limits of non-violence.

Contents:

1 Introduction

Wilde Christianity 1

A Simple Enough Summary of the Argument 8

2 The Catechism of the Citizen

Why Politics Is Not Practicable without Religion and Why This Is Problematic 21

Althusser and Badiou on Rousseau 26

Why Are Political Institutions Necessary? The "Violent Reasoner" and the Problem of Motivation in Politics 28

The Being of Politics, or the Misnomer of the Social Contract 35

The General Will, Law, and the Necessity for Patriotism 41

Theatre Is Narcissism 46

The Authority of the Law 54

The Paradox of Sovereignty 59

The Problem of Civil Religion 67

Dollar Bills, Flags, and Cosmic War 78

Fictional Force: How the Many Are Governed by the Few 81

The Politics of the Supreme Fiction 90

Why Badiou Is a Rousseauist 93

3 Mystical Anarchism

Carl Schmitt: The Political, Dictatorship, and the Importance of Original Sin 103

John Gray: The Naturalization of Original Sin, Political Realism, and Passive Nihilism 109

Millenarianism 117

The Movement of the Free Spirit 121

Becoming God 124

Communistic Consequences 130

Mysticism Is Not about the Business of Fucking 136

Do Not Kill Others, Only Yourself 140

Some Perhapses: Insurrection and the Risk of Abstraction 144

The Politics of Love 151

4 You Are Not Your Own: On the Nature of Faith

Reformation 155

Paul's Address 157

Troth-Plight: Faith as Proclamation 161

Heidegger on Paul 166

Paul and Mysticism 171

Parousia and the Anti-Christ 174

As Not: Paul's Meontology 177

The Powerless Power of the Call of Conscience 183

The Null Basis-Being of a Nullity: Dasein's Double Impotence 188

Crypto-Marcionism 195

Faith and Law 203

5 Nonviolent Violence

Violent Thoughts about Slavoj Zizek 207

Violence and Nonviolence in Benjamin 213

Divine Violence and the Prohibition of Murder 217

The Resistance of That Which Has No Resistance: Violence in Levinas 221

Resistance Is Utile: Authoritarianism versus Anarchism 227

The Problem with Principled Nonviolence 237

6 Conclusion

Be It Done For You, As You Believed 247.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781844677375

1844677370

OCLC:

738350779