The mystery of evil : Benedict XVI and the end of days / Giorgio Agamben ; translated by Adam Kotsko.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Agamben, Giorgio, 1942- author.

Contributor:

Kotsko, Adam

Series:

Meridian (Stanford, Calif.)

Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Benedict XVI, Pope, 1927-2022--Abdication.

Benedict.

Political theology.

Good and evil.

Eschatology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (91 pages).

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

In 2013, Benedict XVI became only the second pope in the history of the Catholic Church to resign from office. In this brief but illuminating study, Giorgio Agamben argues that Benedict's gesture, far from being solely a matter of internal ecclesiastical politics, is exemplary in an age when the question of legitimacy has been virtually left aside in favor of a narrow focus on legality. This reflection on the recent history of the Church opens out into an analysis of one of the earliest documents of Christianity: the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, which stages a dramatic confrontation between the "man of lawlessness" and the enigmatic katechon, the power that holds back the end of days. In Agamben's hands, this infamously obscure passage reveals the theological dynamics of history that continue to inform Western culture to this day.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Translator’s Note

Prefatory Note

I. The Mystery of the Church

II. Mysterium iniquitatis: History as Mystery

Appendix

Bibliography

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781503602748

1503602745

OCLC:

1198931949