Faith of the Faithless
Subtitle: Experiments in Political Theology
By: Simon Critchley
Publisher: Verso Books; Verso
Published: 2012-02
Place of publication: London, England; New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 291
ISBN-13: 9781844677375
Copyright date: 2012
Subjects: Philosophy; Secularism; Political science; Modern Philosophy
Other titles: Imansizlarin Imani: Siyasal Teoloji Deneyleri
Description: 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 Somehow, the secular age seems to have been replaced by a new era, where political action flows directly from metaphysical conflict.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.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: label: 1.
title: Introduction; title: Wilde Christianity
pagenum: 1; title: A Simple Enough Summary of the Argument
pagenum: 8; label: 2.
title: The Catechism of the Citizen; title: Why Politics Is Not Practicable without Religion and Why This Is Problematic
pagenum: 21; title: Althusser and Badiou on Rousseau
pagenum: 26; title: Why Are Political Institutions Necessary? The “Violent Reasoner” and the Problem of Motivation in Politics
pagenum: 28; title: The Being of Politics, or the Misnomer of the Social Contract
pagenum: 35; title: The General Will, Law, and the Necessity for Patriotism
pagenum: 41; title: Theatre Is Narcissism
pagenum: 46; title: The Authority of the Law
pagenum: 54; title: The Paradox of Sovereignty
pagenum: 59; title: The Problem of Civil Religion
pagenum: 67; title: Dollar Bills, Flags, and Cosmic War
pagenum: 78; title: Fictional Force: How the Many Are Governed by the Few
pagenum: 81; title: The Politics of the Supreme Fiction
pagenum: 90; title: “Why Badiou Is a Rousseauist
pagenum: 93; label: 3.
title: Mystical Anarchism; title: Carl Schmitt: The Political, Dictatorship, and the Importance of Original Sin
pagenum: 103; title: John Gray: The Naturalization of Original Sin, Political Realism, and Passive Nihilism
pagenum: 109; title: Millenarianism
pagenum: 117; title: The Movement of the Free Spirit
pagenum: 121; title: Becoming God
pagenum: 124; title: Communistic Consequences
pagenum: 130; title: Mysticism Is Not about the Business of Fucking
pagenum: 136; title: Do Not Kill Others, Only Yourself 140 Some Perhapses: Insurrection and the Risk of Abstraction
pagenum: 144; title: The Politics of Love
pagenum: 151; label: 4.
title: You Are Not Your Own: On the Nature of Faith Reformation
pagenum: 155; title: Paul’s Address
pagenum: 157; title: Troth-Plight: Faith as Proclamation
pagenum: 161; title: Heidegger on Paul
pagenum: 166; title: Paul and Mysticism
pagenum: 171; title: Parousia and the Anti-Christ
pagenum: 174; title: As Not: Paul’s Meontology
pagenum: 177; title: The Powerless Power of the Call of Conscience
pagenum: 183; title: The Null Basis-Being of a Nullity: Dasein’s Double Impotence
pagenum: 188; title: Crypto-Marcionism 195 Faith and Law
pagenum: 203; label: 5.
title: Nonviolent Violence Violent Thoughts about Slavoj Žižek
pagenum: 207; title: Violence and Nonviolence in Benjamin
pagenum: 213; title: Divine Violence and the Prohibition of Murder
pagenum: 217; title: The Resistance of That Which Has No Resistance: Violence in Levinas
pagenum: 221; title: Resistance Is Utile: Authoritarianism versus Anarchism
pagenum: 227; title: The Problem with Principled Nonviolence
pagenum: 237; label: 6.
title: Conclusion; title: Be It Done For You, As You Believed
pagenum: 247; title: Notes
pagenum: 253; title: Index
pagenum: 283