Description The book consists of a collection of essays on black metal, some (chapters 2-4) alrea... more Description The book consists of a collection of essays on black metal, some (chapters 2-4) already published and others new. The aim is to offer a set of coherent reflections upon – or rather, performances of-'black metal theology'. Like black metal theory, black metal theology is a mutual blackening and complication of black metal and theology. It is not merely an attempt to think theologically upon the body of black metal, or to extract its themes, but to hear black metal as a discourse on God, a talking/ singing/making heard of God in which divine simplicity is fatally compromised. The texts vary from more standard academic explorations to more experimental forms, in order to multiply the genres of theology and make its limits porous.
Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence challenges the standard view that Kierkegaard's God ... more Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence challenges the standard view that Kierkegaard's God is infinitely other than the world. It argues that his work immerses us in the paradoxical nature of existence itself, and opposes any flight into another world. Shakespeare shows that Kierkegaard's texts cannot be contained within an orthodox Christian framework. In a daring series of readings, we find the paradox figured in ways which refuse the judgment of heaven, struggle against the established order and stand with the suffering victim. Engaging with thinkers from Butler to Deleuze to Laruelle, Shakespeare concludes that Kierkegaard offers us a truly dynamic ethics of immanence.
Is the affirmation or intensification of life a value in itself? Can life itself be thought? This... more Is the affirmation or intensification of life a value in itself? Can life itself be thought? This book breaks new ground in religious and philosophical thinking on the concept of life. It captures a moment in which such thinking is regaining its force and attraction for scholars, and the relevance of thought to social, cultural, political and religious dilemmas about how and why to live. Bringing together original contributions by highly distinguished authors in the field of Continental philosophy of religion, including John D. Caputo, Pamela Sue Anderson, Philip Goodchild, Alison Martin and Don Cupitt, this book has a distinctiveness based on its refusal to sit easily within either secular philosophical or theological approaches. The concept of life mobilizes a thinking that crosses narrow disciplinary boundaries, whilst retaining philosophical rigour.
Three sections explore the various dimensions of the question of life: The Politics of Life'; 'Life and the Limits of Thinking'; and 'Life and Spirituality'. This book will be of interest to a broad range of readers in the humanities, particularly to philosophers, theologians, cultural theorists and all those interested in philosophical or theological debates on the concept of life.
Contents: Introduction: irritating life, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Section 1 The Politics of Life: Believing in this life: French philosophy after Beauvoir, Pamela Sue Anderson; Agamben, Girard and the life that does not live, Brian Sudlow; Entangled fidelities: reassembling the human, John Reader; Grace Jantzen: violence, natality and the social, Alison Martin. Section 2 Life and the Limits of Thinking: Bodies without flesh: overcoming the soft Gnosticism of incarnational theology, John D. Caputo; From world to life: Wittgenstein’s social vitalism and the possibility of philosophy, Neil Turnbull; ‘A weariness of the flesh’: towards a theology of boredom and fatigue, Kenneth Jason Wardley. Section 3 Life and Spirituality: The spirituality of human life, Lorenz Moises J. Festin; Two philosophies of life, Don Cupitt; Thinking and life: on philosophy as a spiritual exercise, Philip Goodchild; Afterword, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Index.
"Beyond Human investigates what it means to call ourselves human beings in relation to both our d... more "Beyond Human investigates what it means to call ourselves human beings in relation to both our distant past and our possible futures as a species, and the questions this might raise for our relationship with the myriad species with which we share the planet. Drawing on insights from zoology, theology, cultural studies and aesthetics, an international line-up of contributors explore such topics as our origins as reflected in early cave art in the upper Palaeolithic through to our prospects at the forefront of contemporary biotechnology. In the process, the book positions “the human” in readiness for what many have characterized as our transhuman or posthuman future. For if our status as rational animals or "animals that think" has traditionally distinguished us as apparently superior to other species, this distinction has become increasingly problematic. It has come to be seen as based on skills and technologies that do not distinguish us so much as position us as transitional animals. It is the direction and consequences of this transition that is the central concern of Beyond Human.
Table of Contents
List of figures \ Contributors \ Preface Sean Cubitt \ Acknowledgements \ Introduction Steven Shakespeare, Claire Molloy and Charlie Blake \ Part I: Animality: Boundaries and Definitions \ 1. Incidents toward an Animal Revolution Ron Broglio \ 2.Being a Known Animal Claire Molloy \ 3. Beyond the Pain Principle Giovanni Aloi \ Part II: Representing Animality \ 4. What We Can Do: Art Methodologies and Parities in Meeting Bryndis Snæbjornsdóttir and Mark Wilson \ 5. Horse-Crazy Girls: Alternative Embodiments and Socialities Natalie Corinne Hansen \ 6. Writing Relations: the Lobster, the Orchid, the Primrose, You, Me, Chaos and Literature Lucile Desblache \ Part III: Thinking Beyond the Divide \ 7. Affective animal: Bataille, Lascaux and the mediatization of the sacred Felicity Colman \ 8. Levinas, Bataille and the Theology of Animal Life Donald L. Turner \ 9. Degrees of ‘Freedom’: Humans as Primates in Dialogue with Hans urs von Balthasar Celia Deane-Drummond \ Part IV: Animal- Human- Machine- God \ 10. Inhuman Geometries: Aurochs and Angels and The Refuge of Art Charlie Blake \ 11. Articulating the inhuman: God, animal, machine Steven Shakespeare \ 12. Transforming the Human Body Gareth Jones and Maja Whitaker \ Index
Author(s)
Charlie Blake, Charlie Blake is Senior Lecturer in Critical and Cultural Theory at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He has recently co-edited a two volume study for the journal Angelaki entitled Shadows of Cruelty: Sadism, Masochism & the Philosophical Muse, and contributed 'A Preface to Pornotheology: Spinoza, Deleuze & the Sexing of Angels' to Deleuze and Sex (Edinburgh UP, 2011) and Pirate Multiplicities' on Pessoa, Badiou and the graphic fiction of Alan Moore for Studies in Comics 2:1 (Intellect, 2011). He is now working on the politics of pornotheology and the emergent field of spectral materialism in connection with art, music and cinema.
Claire Molloy, Claire Molloy is Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Media at University of Brighton, UK and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. She has published on anthropomorphism, representations of animals in videogames and literature and dangerous dogs, media and risk. She is the author of Memento (EUP 2010) and Popular Media and Animal Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and co-editor of American Independent Cinema: Indie, Indiewood and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
This fascinating collection of essays is often challenging and always engaging.Drawing on an astonishing breadth of approaches this book offers a stimulating exploration of what it means to be both embodied human and animal in an increasingly post-human world.
From the opening chapter with its provocative idea of handing animals tools for their own, much needed, revolution through to the final chapter which unsettlingly forces the reader to consider human-technological melding, this book will force to you see – and think about the world – differently.
Nik Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Sociology, Flinders University, Australia
The chapters in this incisive collection offer important challenges to anthropocentric prejudices – just as the title promises, readers are taken “beyond human.” Vivid, passionate, ethically-charged critical writing embodies resistance to fixed ideas that diminish other animals. Boundaries are contested and conventions are transgressed as these writers celebrate a consciousness that displaces man as the measure of all things. This memorable and important compilation of scholarship creatively advances the agenda of human-animal studies.
Randy Malamud, Professor and Associate Chair, Modern Literature, Ecocriticism, and Cultural Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA"
Jacques Derrida: a name to strike fear into the hearts of theologians. His thought has been hugel... more Jacques Derrida: a name to strike fear into the hearts of theologians. His thought has been hugely influential in shaping postmodern philosophy, and its impact has been felt across the humanities from literary studies to architecture. However, he has also been associated with the spectres of relativism and nihilism. Some have suggested he undermines any notion of objective truth and stable meaning.
Fortunately, such premature judgements are gradually changing. Derrida is now increasingly seen as a major contributor to thinking about the complexity of truth, responsibility and witnessing. Theologians and biblical scholars are engaging as never before with Derrida’s own deep-rooted reflections on religious themes. From the nature of faith to the name of God, from Messianism to mysticism, from forgiveness to the impossible, he has broken new ground in thinking about religion in our time. His thought and writing style remain highly complex, however, and can be a forbidding prospect for the uninitiated. This book gives theologians the confidence to explore the major elements of Derrida’s work, and its influence on theology, without ‘dumbing it down’ or ignoring its controversial aspects. It examines his philosophical approach, his specific work on religious themes, and the ways in which theologians have interpreted, adopted and disputed them. Derrida and Theology is an invaluable guide for those ready to ride the leading wave of contemporary theology.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One
Savage Genesis: Complicating the Origin
Chapter Two
In the Beginning was the Word: Repeat
Chapter Three
The Other, the Thief, the great Furtive One: Naming God
Chapter Four
How to Void Speaking: Derrida and Negative Theology
Chapter Five
Messianism and the Other to Come
Chapter Six
Touching: The Impossible Gift
Chapter Seven
Gift or Poison? Theological responses
Conclusion A Useless, Indispensable Name Select
Bibliography
Index
Author(s)
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
‘We are familiar with theological responses to Derrida that range from accusations of nihilism to uncritical mimicry. Rarely, however, has such a range of Derrida’s writings been so judiciously sifted and evaluated with regard to their significance for theology. Students who have not yet read Derrida will find this a lucid and reliable introduction, whilst those who have already been drawn into the world of Derrida’s writing will find much to help them go further. For this is not merely a step-by-step beginners’ guide but the fruit of a long-standing and deeply pondered engagement with this most elusive of thinkers. It will be an important addition to any theological library.’ – George Pattison, Christ Church, Oxford, UK.
George Pattison
‘This is the most important book on Derrida and religion to come across my desk in a very long time. In page after page of limpid exposition and probing analyses of Derrida's texts, along with an incisive review of the secondary literature, Shakespeare sweeps away decades of misunderstandings of Derrida's project while clearing the way to a deeper appreciation of Derrida's importance for theology. Shakespeare shows great sensitivity both to the requirements of theological thinking and to the delicacies of deconstruction. Following the lead of Derrida's critique of the simplicity of origins, his notion of God the thief, the God of the ruse, gets closer to what Derrida is doing to and for theology than anything else I have read. Subtle, nuanced, judicious and comprehensive--in all a major achievement.’ – John D. Caputo, Faculty of Religion, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
John D. Caputo
"The book is excellent in many ways, and I would certainly recommend it to undergraduates." The Revd Sam Norton, Church Times, January 29
'His exposition is careful and relentlessly committed to reading Derrida as Derrida intends to be read. This is the book's greatest strength. Shakespeare saves until the end his interaction with the ways in which Derrida has been received by various theologianss. This gives Derrida room to speak. It is a strikingly charitable thing to do. Very few theologians give Derrida this kind of room.' - Beau Pihlaja, University of Texas at El Paso, TX, USA
Beau Pihlaja
... the book serves its purpose as an introduction ([Shakespeare] should be applauded for the close reading of many primary texts that are usually ignored) and those interested in contemporary continental philosophy of religion will find this work a comprehensive and sensitive guide to Derrida.
Radical Orthodoxy is a new, exciting, sometimes baffling and always controversial, trend in theol... more Radical Orthodoxy is a new, exciting, sometimes baffling and always controversial, trend in theology. It also has a fearsome and off-putting reputation for complexity. Its books are full of detailed arguments and are crammed with philosophical terms in a range of languages.
Here, Steven Shakespeare makes accessible Radical Orthodoxy’s key arguments and offers an explanation and critique of its theology. This jargon-free introduction will help students, clergy and those with an interest in theology to engage both with the movement and with the wider debate about the place of the Church in the world.
This short, accessible and compelling book argues that an inclusive vision of God lies at the hea... more This short, accessible and compelling book argues that an inclusive vision of God lies at the heart of Christian theology. Since the 1960s liberal theology has been driven by social justice issues and an ethic of tolerance. This has not been enough to check the rise of neoconservative theologies that now predominate in the Churches. Liberal theology now needs to stake a claim for the very identity of Christianity itself, showing how mainstream and inclusive values have always been a central strand of Christian thinking.
"""Debate about the reality of God risks becoming an arid stalemate. An unbridgeable gulf seems t... more """Debate about the reality of God risks becoming an arid stalemate. An unbridgeable gulf seems to be fixed between realists, arguing that God exists independently of our language and beliefs, and anti-realists for whom God-language functions to express human spiritual ideals, with no reference to a reality external to the faith of the believer. Soren Kierkegaard has been enlisted as an ally by both sides of this debate.
Kierkegaard, Language and the Reality of God presents a new approach, exploring the dynamic nature of Kierkegaard's texts and the way they undermine neat divisions between realism and anti-realism, objectivity and subjectivity. Showing that Kierkegaard's understanding of language is crucial to his practice of communication, and his account of the paradoxes inherent in religious discourse, Shakespeare argues that Kierkegaard advances a form of 'ethical realism' in which the otherness of God is met in the making of liberating signs. Not only are new perspectives opened on Kierkegaard's texts, but his own contribution to ongoing debates is affirmed in its vital, creative and challenging significance.
Contents: Preface; Kierkegaard and the question of language; In search of the perfect language; A Kierkegaardian theory of language?; The seduction of language; Significant silences; Kierkegaard’s ethical realism; The analogy of communication; The passion of language; Bibliography; Index.
Reviews: '... Shakespeare produces not only a satisfying view of Kierkegaard but also an account of God, language and reality that is helpful for anyone dissatisfied with the alternatives of both anti-realism and traditional metaphysical realism... Shakespeare writes with an engaging passion. Although the discussion can be technical, each chapter has a helpful summary, and care is taken to explain the origins and key perspectives of contemporary (Continental) philosophy of language...this book has much to recommend it. As a discussion of Kierkegaard's view of language, it is both appealing and thorough.' Theology
'In this rich and suggestive book, Steven Shakespeare guides us through two important ways in which Kierkegaard's thought on language might be illuminating: first, with respect to language in general, in our relation to each other, and second, in relation to theological language... the importance of the topic and the quality of conceptual analysis, textual exegesis, and historical contextualization make this book rewarding reading.' Modern Theology
'...Shakespeare’s is a well-written, frequently engaging study on an important subject, and is well worth reading.'' Ars Disputandi on-line journal
'... a work which is both an exposition of Kierkegaard's own writing with all its multiple ironies and ellipses and an essay in the philosophy of language...' Modern Believing
'[This book] is full of energy and precision. Shakespeare is convinced of the transforming reality of the God we meet in Christ, and for this reason he challenges both believers and sceptics to remove the ideological shackles by which that transformation is most readily avoided.' Connections
'... a wonderful contribution to the ongoing debate between realist and anti-realist interpretations of Kierkegaard... Shakespeare is to be commended for his own passionate quest to inhabit the space of difference between realists and anti-realists. His search to be faithful to SK and God is in evidence throughout although he is no worshipper of SK per se. May his book get the wide readership it so justly deserves.' Soren Kierkegaard Newsletter
"""
"Soren Kierkegaard is often painted as the arch-individualist - someone who puts so much stress o... more "Soren Kierkegaard is often painted as the arch-individualist - someone who puts so much stress on the role of the single individual that he has nothing to say about social issues. This collection of essays not only refutes that caricature, it also reveals just how dynamic and challenging Kierkegaard's social thinking really is. Scholars from diverse disciplines show how Kierkegaard raises difficult questions about the nature of selfhood, the church, society, politics, love and justice - questions we cannot afford to ignore.
Avoiding any kind of uncritical hero-worship, the contributors wrestle with Kierkegaard's writings and the challenges they pose to contemporary politics and ethics - not least those inspired by `postmodern' thinking. And the book opens with an indispensable introductory essay which charts the history of Kierkegaard interpretation in this area. Kierkegaard: The Self in Society dispels the myths which still surround the enigmatic Dane, and sets the agenda for future debate.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Notes on the Contributors
Editors' Introduction
The Place of the World in Kierkegaard's Ethics; M.G.Piety
Climacan Politics: Polis and Person in Kierkegaard's Postscript; Robert L.Perkins
The Possibilities for Personhood in a Context of (Hitherto Unknown) Possibilities; Anita Craig
Something Anti-Social About Works of Love; Peter George
Kierkegaard's Critique of Pure Irony; Anthony Rudd
Books About Nothing? Kierkegaard's Liberating Rhetoric; Steven Shakespeare
Is Love of Neighbour the Love of an Individual?; Martin Andic
Cities of the Dead: the Relation of Person and Polis in Kierkegaard's Works of Love; Hugh Pyper
Repetition and Justice: A Derridean/Kierkegaardian Reading of the Subject; Mark Dooley
A 'Socio-reading' of the Kierkegaardian Self: or, the Space of Lowliness in the Time of the Disciple; Jim Perkinson
'But I am Almost Never Understood...' or, Who Killed Soren Kierkegaard?; Bruce Kirmmse
Abraham the Communist; Andras Nagy
Index
Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence, 2015
The limit between immanence and transcendence is not simple. Rather than merely dividing two dist... more The limit between immanence and transcendence is not simple. Rather than merely dividing two distinct domains, it intervenes in and organizes those domains. As we have argued, analogy (even in the minimal Barthian requirement that we can specify the “whence” of a revelation) is a crucial, and perhaps indispensable, mediator of transcendence to the world. As such, it has a function: the analogy machine grounds, guarantees, and harmonizes all the differences. Analogy is theodicy: a way of justifying transcendence, securing its difference from the world in the interests of harmonizing that world, referring it to a supratemporal and preexisting harmony as the ground of its being and the hope of its future.
This article argues that philosophy of religion should focus on the notion of the unconditioned, ... more This article argues that philosophy of religion should focus on the notion of the unconditioned, rather than God. Such a shift of focus would have a number of advantages. It would loosen the grip of the default theistic framework often used in the field. In turn, this would encourage fresh reflection upon the nature of the unconditioned and its relationship to conditioned entities. In the process, it would facilitate critical conversation about fundamental metaphysical issues across the divide between analytic and continental philosophers. As an initial step, this article offers a working definition of the unconditioned and explores significant developments of the idea through Kant and the early work of Schelling. It argues that light can be cast on the notion of the unconditioned by contemporary analytic debates about essence and grounding, and vice versa. In order to suggest the fruitfulness of this approach, a recent essay in philosophy of religion by Daniel Barber is examined, i...
Description The book consists of a collection of essays on black metal, some (chapters 2-4) alrea... more Description The book consists of a collection of essays on black metal, some (chapters 2-4) already published and others new. The aim is to offer a set of coherent reflections upon – or rather, performances of-'black metal theology'. Like black metal theory, black metal theology is a mutual blackening and complication of black metal and theology. It is not merely an attempt to think theologically upon the body of black metal, or to extract its themes, but to hear black metal as a discourse on God, a talking/ singing/making heard of God in which divine simplicity is fatally compromised. The texts vary from more standard academic explorations to more experimental forms, in order to multiply the genres of theology and make its limits porous.
Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence challenges the standard view that Kierkegaard's God ... more Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence challenges the standard view that Kierkegaard's God is infinitely other than the world. It argues that his work immerses us in the paradoxical nature of existence itself, and opposes any flight into another world. Shakespeare shows that Kierkegaard's texts cannot be contained within an orthodox Christian framework. In a daring series of readings, we find the paradox figured in ways which refuse the judgment of heaven, struggle against the established order and stand with the suffering victim. Engaging with thinkers from Butler to Deleuze to Laruelle, Shakespeare concludes that Kierkegaard offers us a truly dynamic ethics of immanence.
Is the affirmation or intensification of life a value in itself? Can life itself be thought? This... more Is the affirmation or intensification of life a value in itself? Can life itself be thought? This book breaks new ground in religious and philosophical thinking on the concept of life. It captures a moment in which such thinking is regaining its force and attraction for scholars, and the relevance of thought to social, cultural, political and religious dilemmas about how and why to live. Bringing together original contributions by highly distinguished authors in the field of Continental philosophy of religion, including John D. Caputo, Pamela Sue Anderson, Philip Goodchild, Alison Martin and Don Cupitt, this book has a distinctiveness based on its refusal to sit easily within either secular philosophical or theological approaches. The concept of life mobilizes a thinking that crosses narrow disciplinary boundaries, whilst retaining philosophical rigour.
Three sections explore the various dimensions of the question of life: The Politics of Life'; 'Life and the Limits of Thinking'; and 'Life and Spirituality'. This book will be of interest to a broad range of readers in the humanities, particularly to philosophers, theologians, cultural theorists and all those interested in philosophical or theological debates on the concept of life.
Contents: Introduction: irritating life, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Section 1 The Politics of Life: Believing in this life: French philosophy after Beauvoir, Pamela Sue Anderson; Agamben, Girard and the life that does not live, Brian Sudlow; Entangled fidelities: reassembling the human, John Reader; Grace Jantzen: violence, natality and the social, Alison Martin. Section 2 Life and the Limits of Thinking: Bodies without flesh: overcoming the soft Gnosticism of incarnational theology, John D. Caputo; From world to life: Wittgenstein’s social vitalism and the possibility of philosophy, Neil Turnbull; ‘A weariness of the flesh’: towards a theology of boredom and fatigue, Kenneth Jason Wardley. Section 3 Life and Spirituality: The spirituality of human life, Lorenz Moises J. Festin; Two philosophies of life, Don Cupitt; Thinking and life: on philosophy as a spiritual exercise, Philip Goodchild; Afterword, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Index.
"Beyond Human investigates what it means to call ourselves human beings in relation to both our d... more "Beyond Human investigates what it means to call ourselves human beings in relation to both our distant past and our possible futures as a species, and the questions this might raise for our relationship with the myriad species with which we share the planet. Drawing on insights from zoology, theology, cultural studies and aesthetics, an international line-up of contributors explore such topics as our origins as reflected in early cave art in the upper Palaeolithic through to our prospects at the forefront of contemporary biotechnology. In the process, the book positions “the human” in readiness for what many have characterized as our transhuman or posthuman future. For if our status as rational animals or "animals that think" has traditionally distinguished us as apparently superior to other species, this distinction has become increasingly problematic. It has come to be seen as based on skills and technologies that do not distinguish us so much as position us as transitional animals. It is the direction and consequences of this transition that is the central concern of Beyond Human.
Table of Contents
List of figures \ Contributors \ Preface Sean Cubitt \ Acknowledgements \ Introduction Steven Shakespeare, Claire Molloy and Charlie Blake \ Part I: Animality: Boundaries and Definitions \ 1. Incidents toward an Animal Revolution Ron Broglio \ 2.Being a Known Animal Claire Molloy \ 3. Beyond the Pain Principle Giovanni Aloi \ Part II: Representing Animality \ 4. What We Can Do: Art Methodologies and Parities in Meeting Bryndis Snæbjornsdóttir and Mark Wilson \ 5. Horse-Crazy Girls: Alternative Embodiments and Socialities Natalie Corinne Hansen \ 6. Writing Relations: the Lobster, the Orchid, the Primrose, You, Me, Chaos and Literature Lucile Desblache \ Part III: Thinking Beyond the Divide \ 7. Affective animal: Bataille, Lascaux and the mediatization of the sacred Felicity Colman \ 8. Levinas, Bataille and the Theology of Animal Life Donald L. Turner \ 9. Degrees of ‘Freedom’: Humans as Primates in Dialogue with Hans urs von Balthasar Celia Deane-Drummond \ Part IV: Animal- Human- Machine- God \ 10. Inhuman Geometries: Aurochs and Angels and The Refuge of Art Charlie Blake \ 11. Articulating the inhuman: God, animal, machine Steven Shakespeare \ 12. Transforming the Human Body Gareth Jones and Maja Whitaker \ Index
Author(s)
Charlie Blake, Charlie Blake is Senior Lecturer in Critical and Cultural Theory at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He has recently co-edited a two volume study for the journal Angelaki entitled Shadows of Cruelty: Sadism, Masochism & the Philosophical Muse, and contributed 'A Preface to Pornotheology: Spinoza, Deleuze & the Sexing of Angels' to Deleuze and Sex (Edinburgh UP, 2011) and Pirate Multiplicities' on Pessoa, Badiou and the graphic fiction of Alan Moore for Studies in Comics 2:1 (Intellect, 2011). He is now working on the politics of pornotheology and the emergent field of spectral materialism in connection with art, music and cinema.
Claire Molloy, Claire Molloy is Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Media at University of Brighton, UK and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. She has published on anthropomorphism, representations of animals in videogames and literature and dangerous dogs, media and risk. She is the author of Memento (EUP 2010) and Popular Media and Animal Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and co-editor of American Independent Cinema: Indie, Indiewood and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
This fascinating collection of essays is often challenging and always engaging.Drawing on an astonishing breadth of approaches this book offers a stimulating exploration of what it means to be both embodied human and animal in an increasingly post-human world.
From the opening chapter with its provocative idea of handing animals tools for their own, much needed, revolution through to the final chapter which unsettlingly forces the reader to consider human-technological melding, this book will force to you see – and think about the world – differently.
Nik Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Sociology, Flinders University, Australia
The chapters in this incisive collection offer important challenges to anthropocentric prejudices – just as the title promises, readers are taken “beyond human.” Vivid, passionate, ethically-charged critical writing embodies resistance to fixed ideas that diminish other animals. Boundaries are contested and conventions are transgressed as these writers celebrate a consciousness that displaces man as the measure of all things. This memorable and important compilation of scholarship creatively advances the agenda of human-animal studies.
Randy Malamud, Professor and Associate Chair, Modern Literature, Ecocriticism, and Cultural Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA"
Jacques Derrida: a name to strike fear into the hearts of theologians. His thought has been hugel... more Jacques Derrida: a name to strike fear into the hearts of theologians. His thought has been hugely influential in shaping postmodern philosophy, and its impact has been felt across the humanities from literary studies to architecture. However, he has also been associated with the spectres of relativism and nihilism. Some have suggested he undermines any notion of objective truth and stable meaning.
Fortunately, such premature judgements are gradually changing. Derrida is now increasingly seen as a major contributor to thinking about the complexity of truth, responsibility and witnessing. Theologians and biblical scholars are engaging as never before with Derrida’s own deep-rooted reflections on religious themes. From the nature of faith to the name of God, from Messianism to mysticism, from forgiveness to the impossible, he has broken new ground in thinking about religion in our time. His thought and writing style remain highly complex, however, and can be a forbidding prospect for the uninitiated. This book gives theologians the confidence to explore the major elements of Derrida’s work, and its influence on theology, without ‘dumbing it down’ or ignoring its controversial aspects. It examines his philosophical approach, his specific work on religious themes, and the ways in which theologians have interpreted, adopted and disputed them. Derrida and Theology is an invaluable guide for those ready to ride the leading wave of contemporary theology.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One
Savage Genesis: Complicating the Origin
Chapter Two
In the Beginning was the Word: Repeat
Chapter Three
The Other, the Thief, the great Furtive One: Naming God
Chapter Four
How to Void Speaking: Derrida and Negative Theology
Chapter Five
Messianism and the Other to Come
Chapter Six
Touching: The Impossible Gift
Chapter Seven
Gift or Poison? Theological responses
Conclusion A Useless, Indispensable Name Select
Bibliography
Index
Author(s)
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
‘We are familiar with theological responses to Derrida that range from accusations of nihilism to uncritical mimicry. Rarely, however, has such a range of Derrida’s writings been so judiciously sifted and evaluated with regard to their significance for theology. Students who have not yet read Derrida will find this a lucid and reliable introduction, whilst those who have already been drawn into the world of Derrida’s writing will find much to help them go further. For this is not merely a step-by-step beginners’ guide but the fruit of a long-standing and deeply pondered engagement with this most elusive of thinkers. It will be an important addition to any theological library.’ – George Pattison, Christ Church, Oxford, UK.
George Pattison
‘This is the most important book on Derrida and religion to come across my desk in a very long time. In page after page of limpid exposition and probing analyses of Derrida's texts, along with an incisive review of the secondary literature, Shakespeare sweeps away decades of misunderstandings of Derrida's project while clearing the way to a deeper appreciation of Derrida's importance for theology. Shakespeare shows great sensitivity both to the requirements of theological thinking and to the delicacies of deconstruction. Following the lead of Derrida's critique of the simplicity of origins, his notion of God the thief, the God of the ruse, gets closer to what Derrida is doing to and for theology than anything else I have read. Subtle, nuanced, judicious and comprehensive--in all a major achievement.’ – John D. Caputo, Faculty of Religion, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
John D. Caputo
"The book is excellent in many ways, and I would certainly recommend it to undergraduates." The Revd Sam Norton, Church Times, January 29
'His exposition is careful and relentlessly committed to reading Derrida as Derrida intends to be read. This is the book's greatest strength. Shakespeare saves until the end his interaction with the ways in which Derrida has been received by various theologianss. This gives Derrida room to speak. It is a strikingly charitable thing to do. Very few theologians give Derrida this kind of room.' - Beau Pihlaja, University of Texas at El Paso, TX, USA
Beau Pihlaja
... the book serves its purpose as an introduction ([Shakespeare] should be applauded for the close reading of many primary texts that are usually ignored) and those interested in contemporary continental philosophy of religion will find this work a comprehensive and sensitive guide to Derrida.
Radical Orthodoxy is a new, exciting, sometimes baffling and always controversial, trend in theol... more Radical Orthodoxy is a new, exciting, sometimes baffling and always controversial, trend in theology. It also has a fearsome and off-putting reputation for complexity. Its books are full of detailed arguments and are crammed with philosophical terms in a range of languages.
Here, Steven Shakespeare makes accessible Radical Orthodoxy’s key arguments and offers an explanation and critique of its theology. This jargon-free introduction will help students, clergy and those with an interest in theology to engage both with the movement and with the wider debate about the place of the Church in the world.
This short, accessible and compelling book argues that an inclusive vision of God lies at the hea... more This short, accessible and compelling book argues that an inclusive vision of God lies at the heart of Christian theology. Since the 1960s liberal theology has been driven by social justice issues and an ethic of tolerance. This has not been enough to check the rise of neoconservative theologies that now predominate in the Churches. Liberal theology now needs to stake a claim for the very identity of Christianity itself, showing how mainstream and inclusive values have always been a central strand of Christian thinking.
"""Debate about the reality of God risks becoming an arid stalemate. An unbridgeable gulf seems t... more """Debate about the reality of God risks becoming an arid stalemate. An unbridgeable gulf seems to be fixed between realists, arguing that God exists independently of our language and beliefs, and anti-realists for whom God-language functions to express human spiritual ideals, with no reference to a reality external to the faith of the believer. Soren Kierkegaard has been enlisted as an ally by both sides of this debate.
Kierkegaard, Language and the Reality of God presents a new approach, exploring the dynamic nature of Kierkegaard's texts and the way they undermine neat divisions between realism and anti-realism, objectivity and subjectivity. Showing that Kierkegaard's understanding of language is crucial to his practice of communication, and his account of the paradoxes inherent in religious discourse, Shakespeare argues that Kierkegaard advances a form of 'ethical realism' in which the otherness of God is met in the making of liberating signs. Not only are new perspectives opened on Kierkegaard's texts, but his own contribution to ongoing debates is affirmed in its vital, creative and challenging significance.
Contents: Preface; Kierkegaard and the question of language; In search of the perfect language; A Kierkegaardian theory of language?; The seduction of language; Significant silences; Kierkegaard’s ethical realism; The analogy of communication; The passion of language; Bibliography; Index.
Reviews: '... Shakespeare produces not only a satisfying view of Kierkegaard but also an account of God, language and reality that is helpful for anyone dissatisfied with the alternatives of both anti-realism and traditional metaphysical realism... Shakespeare writes with an engaging passion. Although the discussion can be technical, each chapter has a helpful summary, and care is taken to explain the origins and key perspectives of contemporary (Continental) philosophy of language...this book has much to recommend it. As a discussion of Kierkegaard's view of language, it is both appealing and thorough.' Theology
'In this rich and suggestive book, Steven Shakespeare guides us through two important ways in which Kierkegaard's thought on language might be illuminating: first, with respect to language in general, in our relation to each other, and second, in relation to theological language... the importance of the topic and the quality of conceptual analysis, textual exegesis, and historical contextualization make this book rewarding reading.' Modern Theology
'...Shakespeare’s is a well-written, frequently engaging study on an important subject, and is well worth reading.'' Ars Disputandi on-line journal
'... a work which is both an exposition of Kierkegaard's own writing with all its multiple ironies and ellipses and an essay in the philosophy of language...' Modern Believing
'[This book] is full of energy and precision. Shakespeare is convinced of the transforming reality of the God we meet in Christ, and for this reason he challenges both believers and sceptics to remove the ideological shackles by which that transformation is most readily avoided.' Connections
'... a wonderful contribution to the ongoing debate between realist and anti-realist interpretations of Kierkegaard... Shakespeare is to be commended for his own passionate quest to inhabit the space of difference between realists and anti-realists. His search to be faithful to SK and God is in evidence throughout although he is no worshipper of SK per se. May his book get the wide readership it so justly deserves.' Soren Kierkegaard Newsletter
"""
"Soren Kierkegaard is often painted as the arch-individualist - someone who puts so much stress o... more "Soren Kierkegaard is often painted as the arch-individualist - someone who puts so much stress on the role of the single individual that he has nothing to say about social issues. This collection of essays not only refutes that caricature, it also reveals just how dynamic and challenging Kierkegaard's social thinking really is. Scholars from diverse disciplines show how Kierkegaard raises difficult questions about the nature of selfhood, the church, society, politics, love and justice - questions we cannot afford to ignore.
Avoiding any kind of uncritical hero-worship, the contributors wrestle with Kierkegaard's writings and the challenges they pose to contemporary politics and ethics - not least those inspired by `postmodern' thinking. And the book opens with an indispensable introductory essay which charts the history of Kierkegaard interpretation in this area. Kierkegaard: The Self in Society dispels the myths which still surround the enigmatic Dane, and sets the agenda for future debate.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Notes on the Contributors
Editors' Introduction
The Place of the World in Kierkegaard's Ethics; M.G.Piety
Climacan Politics: Polis and Person in Kierkegaard's Postscript; Robert L.Perkins
The Possibilities for Personhood in a Context of (Hitherto Unknown) Possibilities; Anita Craig
Something Anti-Social About Works of Love; Peter George
Kierkegaard's Critique of Pure Irony; Anthony Rudd
Books About Nothing? Kierkegaard's Liberating Rhetoric; Steven Shakespeare
Is Love of Neighbour the Love of an Individual?; Martin Andic
Cities of the Dead: the Relation of Person and Polis in Kierkegaard's Works of Love; Hugh Pyper
Repetition and Justice: A Derridean/Kierkegaardian Reading of the Subject; Mark Dooley
A 'Socio-reading' of the Kierkegaardian Self: or, the Space of Lowliness in the Time of the Disciple; Jim Perkinson
'But I am Almost Never Understood...' or, Who Killed Soren Kierkegaard?; Bruce Kirmmse
Abraham the Communist; Andras Nagy
Index
Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence, 2015
The limit between immanence and transcendence is not simple. Rather than merely dividing two dist... more The limit between immanence and transcendence is not simple. Rather than merely dividing two distinct domains, it intervenes in and organizes those domains. As we have argued, analogy (even in the minimal Barthian requirement that we can specify the “whence” of a revelation) is a crucial, and perhaps indispensable, mediator of transcendence to the world. As such, it has a function: the analogy machine grounds, guarantees, and harmonizes all the differences. Analogy is theodicy: a way of justifying transcendence, securing its difference from the world in the interests of harmonizing that world, referring it to a supratemporal and preexisting harmony as the ground of its being and the hope of its future.
This article argues that philosophy of religion should focus on the notion of the unconditioned, ... more This article argues that philosophy of religion should focus on the notion of the unconditioned, rather than God. Such a shift of focus would have a number of advantages. It would loosen the grip of the default theistic framework often used in the field. In turn, this would encourage fresh reflection upon the nature of the unconditioned and its relationship to conditioned entities. In the process, it would facilitate critical conversation about fundamental metaphysical issues across the divide between analytic and continental philosophers. As an initial step, this article offers a working definition of the unconditioned and explores significant developments of the idea through Kant and the early work of Schelling. It argues that light can be cast on the notion of the unconditioned by contemporary analytic debates about essence and grounding, and vice versa. In order to suggest the fruitfulness of this approach, a recent essay in philosophy of religion by Daniel Barber is examined, i...
Central here is a critique of the loss of a sense of 'the other' (and the related loss of... more Central here is a critique of the loss of a sense of 'the other' (and the related loss of a sense of transcendence) that is part of metaphysical realism and, even more truly, anti-realism. Both points of view, for Shakespeare, tend to domesticate religion much as they domesticate human reality. For metaphysical realism, the other is lost in the alltoo-confident categories that it reads into reality. For anti-realism, the other is lost in an ironic (possibly nihilistic) sense of the world as an arbitrary play of signification 'Kierkegaard's texts resist the totalizing vision implied in either anti-realism or metaphysical realism' (p. 237). Shakespeare is more successful at highlighting the shortcomings of realism and anti-realism than proposing in a philosophically rigorous way a viewpoint that can replace them. However, the discussion of Kierkegaard does give a very good sense of what rejecting both realism and anti-realism might mean theologically. Kierkegaard's highest concern is shown to be for truth as subjective experience hence Kierkegaard's famous line 'Subjectivity is truth' (quoted on p. 166). For Kierkegaard, this truth is the truth that emerges out of a passionate, and therefore subjective, engagement with the absolute otherness that is God. Because it is subjective, metaphysical realism is ruled out; because it is an engagement with a genuine other, anti-realism is ruled out. As Shakespeare makes excellently clear, Kierkegaard's indirect communication is a way of provoking subjective encounter and avoiding the false objectivity of an authorial voice. Shakespeare writes with an engaging passion. Although the discussion can be technical, each chapter has a helpful summary, and care is taken to explain the origins and key perspectives of contemporary (Continental) philosophy of language. Although some big questions remain about describing with more philosophical precision what it is to owe debts to both realism and anti-realism without accepting either, as an antidote to the claims of both traditional metaphysics and fashionable postmodernists, this book has much to recommend it. As a discussion of Kierkegaard's view of language, it is both appealing and thorough.
Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence, 2015
It is well known that Kierkegaard was fascinated by boundary disputes. Approaching a boundary is ... more It is well known that Kierkegaard was fascinated by boundary disputes. Approaching a boundary is both a containment and an exposure. On the one hand, the experience of drawing near to a border offers an assurance. It promises a delineated territory, an area that can be marked off, traversed, and known. However, it also turns us toward an outside: what is not yet mapped, and perhaps, what lies beyond all possible maps. Here be monsters.
Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence, 2015
So far, we have approached the relationship between immanence and transcendence by exploring the ... more So far, we have approached the relationship between immanence and transcendence by exploring the question of analogy. Although Kierkegaard is not deploying a technical sense of analogical language, there is nevertheless a connection between his usage of poetic figures and what, say, a Thomistic account of analogical terms is supposed to achieve. In each case, the figure both makes a connection between the immanent and transcendence, and maintains the distinction. Analogies work negatively as well as positively, drawing the limits between the known and the unknown. Certain terms that are key to the figures and narratives used by Kierkegaard—paradox, love, revelation/disclosure—appear to have their proper sense only in relation to the transcendent.
Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence, 2015
There is always a struggle about where the monsters lie. If you want to determine what is known, ... more There is always a struggle about where the monsters lie. If you want to determine what is known, charted, amenable to civilization and colonization, you must draw a boundary beyond which is the uncanny wild. The act of demonstrating the known is simultaneously one of revealing the monstrous.
I want to trace some of the steps of the Kierkegaardian dance. Derrida writes that, to refuse nos... more I want to trace some of the steps of the Kierkegaardian dance. Derrida writes that, to refuse nostalgia for a lost homeland of thought, a lost unique name of being, a lost identity of innocence is to step into a dance of affirmation, even of hope, to put ‘affirmation into play, in a certain laughter and a certain step of the dance’.1
which means that the theologian, who is the practitioner of an inexact yet practical science, has... more which means that the theologian, who is the practitioner of an inexact yet practical science, has to approach the discipline in humility. Unlike some contemporary theologians, Jones does not aim to recreate the world in the image of theology, but instead seeks a limited, modest and provisional compromise between the world as we have it and the God we know as Jesus Christ. Comprises may be dangerous things, but at least they have some application in our fragmented, complex and infinitely frustrating world. Students could learn much about tolerance, openness and pluralism from this little book.
In the early 1800s, Schelling argued for the ultimate indifference of the finite and the infinite... more In the early 1800s, Schelling argued for the ultimate indifference of the finite and the infinite in the absolute. However, the nature of his argument could not be straightforward. Discursive forms of reasoning which relied on causal explanation to reach their conclusions were ruled out, since causation could only apply within the world of finite particulars, and bore no relation to the absolute. Schelling therefore turned to the method of ‘construction’: less a causal explanation than a showing, an exhibition of the infinite in the finite. This was a demonstration allied to a certain experience or intuition of the absolute. In his Philosophy of Art, Schelling sets out a construction of art as a determination of the absolute in various ways, always grounded in an absolute indifference. He begins with music, which he presents as rooted in a sonority which is the aural expression of that indifference, punctuated by rhythmic multiplicity. In drone metal, we find this sonorous absolute manifest in crushing slowness: the minimal interruption of the black hole of sonority by sparse beats. However, rather than allowing light and consciousness to take flight (pace certain tendencies in Schelling), such indifference acts as an infinite drag upon finitude. This essay thus attempts the construction of the absolute in view of Conan’s early doom/drone EP Horseback Battle Hammer. Musically and lyrically, it will show Conan’s work to be the epitome of audible heaviness, an intuition of the death of intuition. Their minimalist rhythm and lyrics demonstrate the sucking pull of an absolute swamp, where even speed becomes an agonising slowness of dissolution: ‘Bodies flow to the bottom/always flow to the bottom’ (Conan, ‘Satsumo’).
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Books
Three sections explore the various dimensions of the question of life: The Politics of Life'; 'Life and the Limits of Thinking'; and 'Life and Spirituality'. This book will be of interest to a broad range of readers in the humanities, particularly to philosophers, theologians, cultural theorists and all those interested in philosophical or theological debates on the concept of life.
Contents: Introduction: irritating life, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Section 1 The Politics of Life: Believing in this life: French philosophy after Beauvoir, Pamela Sue Anderson; Agamben, Girard and the life that does not live, Brian Sudlow; Entangled fidelities: reassembling the human, John Reader; Grace Jantzen: violence, natality and the social, Alison Martin. Section 2 Life and the Limits of Thinking: Bodies without flesh: overcoming the soft Gnosticism of incarnational theology, John D. Caputo; From world to life: Wittgenstein’s social vitalism and the possibility of philosophy, Neil Turnbull; ‘A weariness of the flesh’: towards a theology of boredom and fatigue, Kenneth Jason Wardley. Section 3 Life and Spirituality: The spirituality of human life, Lorenz Moises J. Festin; Two philosophies of life, Don Cupitt; Thinking and life: on philosophy as a spiritual exercise, Philip Goodchild; Afterword, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Index.
Table of Contents
List of figures \ Contributors \ Preface Sean Cubitt \ Acknowledgements \ Introduction Steven Shakespeare, Claire Molloy and Charlie Blake \ Part I: Animality: Boundaries and Definitions \ 1. Incidents toward an Animal Revolution Ron Broglio \ 2.Being a Known Animal Claire Molloy \ 3. Beyond the Pain Principle Giovanni Aloi \ Part II: Representing Animality \ 4. What We Can Do: Art Methodologies and Parities in Meeting Bryndis Snæbjornsdóttir and Mark Wilson \ 5. Horse-Crazy Girls: Alternative Embodiments and Socialities Natalie Corinne Hansen \ 6. Writing Relations: the Lobster, the Orchid, the Primrose, You, Me, Chaos and Literature Lucile Desblache \ Part III: Thinking Beyond the Divide \ 7. Affective animal: Bataille, Lascaux and the mediatization of the sacred Felicity Colman \ 8. Levinas, Bataille and the Theology of Animal Life Donald L. Turner \ 9. Degrees of ‘Freedom’: Humans as Primates in Dialogue with Hans urs von Balthasar Celia Deane-Drummond \ Part IV: Animal- Human- Machine- God \ 10. Inhuman Geometries: Aurochs and Angels and The Refuge of Art Charlie Blake \ 11. Articulating the inhuman: God, animal, machine Steven Shakespeare \ 12. Transforming the Human Body Gareth Jones and Maja Whitaker \ Index
Author(s)
Charlie Blake, Charlie Blake is Senior Lecturer in Critical and Cultural Theory at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He has recently co-edited a two volume study for the journal Angelaki entitled Shadows of Cruelty: Sadism, Masochism & the Philosophical Muse, and contributed 'A Preface to Pornotheology: Spinoza, Deleuze & the Sexing of Angels' to Deleuze and Sex (Edinburgh UP, 2011) and Pirate Multiplicities' on Pessoa, Badiou and the graphic fiction of Alan Moore for Studies in Comics 2:1 (Intellect, 2011). He is now working on the politics of pornotheology and the emergent field of spectral materialism in connection with art, music and cinema.
Claire Molloy, Claire Molloy is Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Media at University of Brighton, UK and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. She has published on anthropomorphism, representations of animals in videogames and literature and dangerous dogs, media and risk. She is the author of Memento (EUP 2010) and Popular Media and Animal Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and co-editor of American Independent Cinema: Indie, Indiewood and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
This fascinating collection of essays is often challenging and always engaging.Drawing on an astonishing breadth of approaches this book offers a stimulating exploration of what it means to be both embodied human and animal in an increasingly post-human world.
From the opening chapter with its provocative idea of handing animals tools for their own, much needed, revolution through to the final chapter which unsettlingly forces the reader to consider human-technological melding, this book will force to you see – and think about the world – differently.
Nik Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Sociology, Flinders University, Australia
The chapters in this incisive collection offer important challenges to anthropocentric prejudices – just as the title promises, readers are taken “beyond human.” Vivid, passionate, ethically-charged critical writing embodies resistance to fixed ideas that diminish other animals. Boundaries are contested and conventions are transgressed as these writers celebrate a consciousness that displaces man as the measure of all things. This memorable and important compilation of scholarship creatively advances the agenda of human-animal studies.
Randy Malamud, Professor and Associate Chair, Modern Literature, Ecocriticism, and Cultural Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA"
Fortunately, such premature judgements are gradually changing. Derrida is now increasingly seen as a major contributor to thinking about the complexity of truth, responsibility and witnessing. Theologians and biblical scholars are engaging as never before with Derrida’s own deep-rooted reflections on religious themes. From the nature of faith to the name of God, from Messianism to mysticism, from forgiveness to the impossible, he has broken new ground in thinking about religion in our time. His thought and writing style remain highly complex, however, and can be a forbidding prospect for the uninitiated. This book gives theologians the confidence to explore the major elements of Derrida’s work, and its influence on theology, without ‘dumbing it down’ or ignoring its controversial aspects. It examines his philosophical approach, his specific work on religious themes, and the ways in which theologians have interpreted, adopted and disputed them. Derrida and Theology is an invaluable guide for those ready to ride the leading wave of contemporary theology.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One
Savage Genesis: Complicating the Origin
Chapter Two
In the Beginning was the Word: Repeat
Chapter Three
The Other, the Thief, the great Furtive One: Naming God
Chapter Four
How to Void Speaking: Derrida and Negative Theology
Chapter Five
Messianism and the Other to Come
Chapter Six
Touching: The Impossible Gift
Chapter Seven
Gift or Poison? Theological responses
Conclusion A Useless, Indispensable Name Select
Bibliography
Index
Author(s)
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
‘We are familiar with theological responses to Derrida that range from accusations of nihilism to uncritical mimicry. Rarely, however, has such a range of Derrida’s writings been so judiciously sifted and evaluated with regard to their significance for theology. Students who have not yet read Derrida will find this a lucid and reliable introduction, whilst those who have already been drawn into the world of Derrida’s writing will find much to help them go further. For this is not merely a step-by-step beginners’ guide but the fruit of a long-standing and deeply pondered engagement with this most elusive of thinkers. It will be an important addition to any theological library.’ – George Pattison, Christ Church, Oxford, UK.
George Pattison
‘This is the most important book on Derrida and religion to come across my desk in a very long time. In page after page of limpid exposition and probing analyses of Derrida's texts, along with an incisive review of the secondary literature, Shakespeare sweeps away decades of misunderstandings of Derrida's project while clearing the way to a deeper appreciation of Derrida's importance for theology. Shakespeare shows great sensitivity both to the requirements of theological thinking and to the delicacies of deconstruction. Following the lead of Derrida's critique of the simplicity of origins, his notion of God the thief, the God of the ruse, gets closer to what Derrida is doing to and for theology than anything else I have read. Subtle, nuanced, judicious and comprehensive--in all a major achievement.’ – John D. Caputo, Faculty of Religion, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
John D. Caputo
"The book is excellent in many ways, and I would certainly recommend it to undergraduates." The Revd Sam Norton, Church Times, January 29
'His exposition is careful and relentlessly committed to reading Derrida as Derrida intends to be read. This is the book's greatest strength. Shakespeare saves until the end his interaction with the ways in which Derrida has been received by various theologianss. This gives Derrida room to speak. It is a strikingly charitable thing to do. Very few theologians give Derrida this kind of room.' - Beau Pihlaja, University of Texas at El Paso, TX, USA
Beau Pihlaja
... the book serves its purpose as an introduction ([Shakespeare] should be applauded for the close reading of many primary texts that are usually ignored) and those interested in contemporary continental philosophy of religion will find this work a comprehensive and sensitive guide to Derrida.
The Expository Times Volume 122, Number 11
Here, Steven Shakespeare makes accessible Radical Orthodoxy’s key arguments and offers an explanation and critique of its theology. This jargon-free introduction will help students, clergy and those with an interest in theology to engage both with the movement and with the wider debate about the place of the Church in the world.
Kierkegaard, Language and the Reality of God presents a new approach, exploring the dynamic nature of Kierkegaard's texts and the way they undermine neat divisions between realism and anti-realism, objectivity and subjectivity. Showing that Kierkegaard's understanding of language is crucial to his practice of communication, and his account of the paradoxes inherent in religious discourse, Shakespeare argues that Kierkegaard advances a form of 'ethical realism' in which the otherness of God is met in the making of liberating signs. Not only are new perspectives opened on Kierkegaard's texts, but his own contribution to ongoing debates is affirmed in its vital, creative and challenging significance.
Contents: Preface; Kierkegaard and the question of language; In search of the perfect language; A Kierkegaardian theory of language?; The seduction of language; Significant silences; Kierkegaard’s ethical realism; The analogy of communication; The passion of language; Bibliography; Index.
Reviews: '... Shakespeare produces not only a satisfying view of Kierkegaard but also an account of God, language and reality that is helpful for anyone dissatisfied with the alternatives of both anti-realism and traditional metaphysical realism... Shakespeare writes with an engaging passion. Although the discussion can be technical, each chapter has a helpful summary, and care is taken to explain the origins and key perspectives of contemporary (Continental) philosophy of language...this book has much to recommend it. As a discussion of Kierkegaard's view of language, it is both appealing and thorough.' Theology
'In this rich and suggestive book, Steven Shakespeare guides us through two important ways in which Kierkegaard's thought on language might be illuminating: first, with respect to language in general, in our relation to each other, and second, in relation to theological language... the importance of the topic and the quality of conceptual analysis, textual exegesis, and historical contextualization make this book rewarding reading.' Modern Theology
'...Shakespeare’s is a well-written, frequently engaging study on an important subject, and is well worth reading.'' Ars Disputandi on-line journal
'... a work which is both an exposition of Kierkegaard's own writing with all its multiple ironies and ellipses and an essay in the philosophy of language...' Modern Believing
'[This book] is full of energy and precision. Shakespeare is convinced of the transforming reality of the God we meet in Christ, and for this reason he challenges both believers and sceptics to remove the ideological shackles by which that transformation is most readily avoided.' Connections
'... a wonderful contribution to the ongoing debate between realist and anti-realist interpretations of Kierkegaard... Shakespeare is to be commended for his own passionate quest to inhabit the space of difference between realists and anti-realists. His search to be faithful to SK and God is in evidence throughout although he is no worshipper of SK per se. May his book get the wide readership it so justly deserves.' Soren Kierkegaard Newsletter
"""
Avoiding any kind of uncritical hero-worship, the contributors wrestle with Kierkegaard's writings and the challenges they pose to contemporary politics and ethics - not least those inspired by `postmodern' thinking. And the book opens with an indispensable introductory essay which charts the history of Kierkegaard interpretation in this area. Kierkegaard: The Self in Society dispels the myths which still surround the enigmatic Dane, and sets the agenda for future debate.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Notes on the Contributors
Editors' Introduction
The Place of the World in Kierkegaard's Ethics; M.G.Piety
Climacan Politics: Polis and Person in Kierkegaard's Postscript; Robert L.Perkins
The Possibilities for Personhood in a Context of (Hitherto Unknown) Possibilities; Anita Craig
Something Anti-Social About Works of Love; Peter George
Kierkegaard's Critique of Pure Irony; Anthony Rudd
Books About Nothing? Kierkegaard's Liberating Rhetoric; Steven Shakespeare
Is Love of Neighbour the Love of an Individual?; Martin Andic
Cities of the Dead: the Relation of Person and Polis in Kierkegaard's Works of Love; Hugh Pyper
Repetition and Justice: A Derridean/Kierkegaardian Reading of the Subject; Mark Dooley
A 'Socio-reading' of the Kierkegaardian Self: or, the Space of Lowliness in the Time of the Disciple; Jim Perkinson
'But I am Almost Never Understood...' or, Who Killed Soren Kierkegaard?; Bruce Kirmmse
Abraham the Communist; Andras Nagy
Index
"
Papers
Three sections explore the various dimensions of the question of life: The Politics of Life'; 'Life and the Limits of Thinking'; and 'Life and Spirituality'. This book will be of interest to a broad range of readers in the humanities, particularly to philosophers, theologians, cultural theorists and all those interested in philosophical or theological debates on the concept of life.
Contents: Introduction: irritating life, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Section 1 The Politics of Life: Believing in this life: French philosophy after Beauvoir, Pamela Sue Anderson; Agamben, Girard and the life that does not live, Brian Sudlow; Entangled fidelities: reassembling the human, John Reader; Grace Jantzen: violence, natality and the social, Alison Martin. Section 2 Life and the Limits of Thinking: Bodies without flesh: overcoming the soft Gnosticism of incarnational theology, John D. Caputo; From world to life: Wittgenstein’s social vitalism and the possibility of philosophy, Neil Turnbull; ‘A weariness of the flesh’: towards a theology of boredom and fatigue, Kenneth Jason Wardley. Section 3 Life and Spirituality: The spirituality of human life, Lorenz Moises J. Festin; Two philosophies of life, Don Cupitt; Thinking and life: on philosophy as a spiritual exercise, Philip Goodchild; Afterword, Katharine Sarah Moody and Steven Shakespeare; Index.
Table of Contents
List of figures \ Contributors \ Preface Sean Cubitt \ Acknowledgements \ Introduction Steven Shakespeare, Claire Molloy and Charlie Blake \ Part I: Animality: Boundaries and Definitions \ 1. Incidents toward an Animal Revolution Ron Broglio \ 2.Being a Known Animal Claire Molloy \ 3. Beyond the Pain Principle Giovanni Aloi \ Part II: Representing Animality \ 4. What We Can Do: Art Methodologies and Parities in Meeting Bryndis Snæbjornsdóttir and Mark Wilson \ 5. Horse-Crazy Girls: Alternative Embodiments and Socialities Natalie Corinne Hansen \ 6. Writing Relations: the Lobster, the Orchid, the Primrose, You, Me, Chaos and Literature Lucile Desblache \ Part III: Thinking Beyond the Divide \ 7. Affective animal: Bataille, Lascaux and the mediatization of the sacred Felicity Colman \ 8. Levinas, Bataille and the Theology of Animal Life Donald L. Turner \ 9. Degrees of ‘Freedom’: Humans as Primates in Dialogue with Hans urs von Balthasar Celia Deane-Drummond \ Part IV: Animal- Human- Machine- God \ 10. Inhuman Geometries: Aurochs and Angels and The Refuge of Art Charlie Blake \ 11. Articulating the inhuman: God, animal, machine Steven Shakespeare \ 12. Transforming the Human Body Gareth Jones and Maja Whitaker \ Index
Author(s)
Charlie Blake, Charlie Blake is Senior Lecturer in Critical and Cultural Theory at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He has recently co-edited a two volume study for the journal Angelaki entitled Shadows of Cruelty: Sadism, Masochism & the Philosophical Muse, and contributed 'A Preface to Pornotheology: Spinoza, Deleuze & the Sexing of Angels' to Deleuze and Sex (Edinburgh UP, 2011) and Pirate Multiplicities' on Pessoa, Badiou and the graphic fiction of Alan Moore for Studies in Comics 2:1 (Intellect, 2011). He is now working on the politics of pornotheology and the emergent field of spectral materialism in connection with art, music and cinema.
Claire Molloy, Claire Molloy is Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Media at University of Brighton, UK and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. She has published on anthropomorphism, representations of animals in videogames and literature and dangerous dogs, media and risk. She is the author of Memento (EUP 2010) and Popular Media and Animal Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and co-editor of American Independent Cinema: Indie, Indiewood and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
This fascinating collection of essays is often challenging and always engaging.Drawing on an astonishing breadth of approaches this book offers a stimulating exploration of what it means to be both embodied human and animal in an increasingly post-human world.
From the opening chapter with its provocative idea of handing animals tools for their own, much needed, revolution through to the final chapter which unsettlingly forces the reader to consider human-technological melding, this book will force to you see – and think about the world – differently.
Nik Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Sociology, Flinders University, Australia
The chapters in this incisive collection offer important challenges to anthropocentric prejudices – just as the title promises, readers are taken “beyond human.” Vivid, passionate, ethically-charged critical writing embodies resistance to fixed ideas that diminish other animals. Boundaries are contested and conventions are transgressed as these writers celebrate a consciousness that displaces man as the measure of all things. This memorable and important compilation of scholarship creatively advances the agenda of human-animal studies.
Randy Malamud, Professor and Associate Chair, Modern Literature, Ecocriticism, and Cultural Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA"
Fortunately, such premature judgements are gradually changing. Derrida is now increasingly seen as a major contributor to thinking about the complexity of truth, responsibility and witnessing. Theologians and biblical scholars are engaging as never before with Derrida’s own deep-rooted reflections on religious themes. From the nature of faith to the name of God, from Messianism to mysticism, from forgiveness to the impossible, he has broken new ground in thinking about religion in our time. His thought and writing style remain highly complex, however, and can be a forbidding prospect for the uninitiated. This book gives theologians the confidence to explore the major elements of Derrida’s work, and its influence on theology, without ‘dumbing it down’ or ignoring its controversial aspects. It examines his philosophical approach, his specific work on religious themes, and the ways in which theologians have interpreted, adopted and disputed them. Derrida and Theology is an invaluable guide for those ready to ride the leading wave of contemporary theology.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One
Savage Genesis: Complicating the Origin
Chapter Two
In the Beginning was the Word: Repeat
Chapter Three
The Other, the Thief, the great Furtive One: Naming God
Chapter Four
How to Void Speaking: Derrida and Negative Theology
Chapter Five
Messianism and the Other to Come
Chapter Six
Touching: The Impossible Gift
Chapter Seven
Gift or Poison? Theological responses
Conclusion A Useless, Indispensable Name Select
Bibliography
Index
Author(s)
Steven Shakespeare, Steven Shakespeare is Lecturer in Philosophy at Liverpool Hope University and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. His publications include The Inclusive God (co authored with Hugh Rayment-Pickard, SCM, 2006), Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction (SPCK, 2007) and Derrida and Theology (T and T Clark, 2009).
Reviews
‘We are familiar with theological responses to Derrida that range from accusations of nihilism to uncritical mimicry. Rarely, however, has such a range of Derrida’s writings been so judiciously sifted and evaluated with regard to their significance for theology. Students who have not yet read Derrida will find this a lucid and reliable introduction, whilst those who have already been drawn into the world of Derrida’s writing will find much to help them go further. For this is not merely a step-by-step beginners’ guide but the fruit of a long-standing and deeply pondered engagement with this most elusive of thinkers. It will be an important addition to any theological library.’ – George Pattison, Christ Church, Oxford, UK.
George Pattison
‘This is the most important book on Derrida and religion to come across my desk in a very long time. In page after page of limpid exposition and probing analyses of Derrida's texts, along with an incisive review of the secondary literature, Shakespeare sweeps away decades of misunderstandings of Derrida's project while clearing the way to a deeper appreciation of Derrida's importance for theology. Shakespeare shows great sensitivity both to the requirements of theological thinking and to the delicacies of deconstruction. Following the lead of Derrida's critique of the simplicity of origins, his notion of God the thief, the God of the ruse, gets closer to what Derrida is doing to and for theology than anything else I have read. Subtle, nuanced, judicious and comprehensive--in all a major achievement.’ – John D. Caputo, Faculty of Religion, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
John D. Caputo
"The book is excellent in many ways, and I would certainly recommend it to undergraduates." The Revd Sam Norton, Church Times, January 29
'His exposition is careful and relentlessly committed to reading Derrida as Derrida intends to be read. This is the book's greatest strength. Shakespeare saves until the end his interaction with the ways in which Derrida has been received by various theologianss. This gives Derrida room to speak. It is a strikingly charitable thing to do. Very few theologians give Derrida this kind of room.' - Beau Pihlaja, University of Texas at El Paso, TX, USA
Beau Pihlaja
... the book serves its purpose as an introduction ([Shakespeare] should be applauded for the close reading of many primary texts that are usually ignored) and those interested in contemporary continental philosophy of religion will find this work a comprehensive and sensitive guide to Derrida.
The Expository Times Volume 122, Number 11
Here, Steven Shakespeare makes accessible Radical Orthodoxy’s key arguments and offers an explanation and critique of its theology. This jargon-free introduction will help students, clergy and those with an interest in theology to engage both with the movement and with the wider debate about the place of the Church in the world.
Kierkegaard, Language and the Reality of God presents a new approach, exploring the dynamic nature of Kierkegaard's texts and the way they undermine neat divisions between realism and anti-realism, objectivity and subjectivity. Showing that Kierkegaard's understanding of language is crucial to his practice of communication, and his account of the paradoxes inherent in religious discourse, Shakespeare argues that Kierkegaard advances a form of 'ethical realism' in which the otherness of God is met in the making of liberating signs. Not only are new perspectives opened on Kierkegaard's texts, but his own contribution to ongoing debates is affirmed in its vital, creative and challenging significance.
Contents: Preface; Kierkegaard and the question of language; In search of the perfect language; A Kierkegaardian theory of language?; The seduction of language; Significant silences; Kierkegaard’s ethical realism; The analogy of communication; The passion of language; Bibliography; Index.
Reviews: '... Shakespeare produces not only a satisfying view of Kierkegaard but also an account of God, language and reality that is helpful for anyone dissatisfied with the alternatives of both anti-realism and traditional metaphysical realism... Shakespeare writes with an engaging passion. Although the discussion can be technical, each chapter has a helpful summary, and care is taken to explain the origins and key perspectives of contemporary (Continental) philosophy of language...this book has much to recommend it. As a discussion of Kierkegaard's view of language, it is both appealing and thorough.' Theology
'In this rich and suggestive book, Steven Shakespeare guides us through two important ways in which Kierkegaard's thought on language might be illuminating: first, with respect to language in general, in our relation to each other, and second, in relation to theological language... the importance of the topic and the quality of conceptual analysis, textual exegesis, and historical contextualization make this book rewarding reading.' Modern Theology
'...Shakespeare’s is a well-written, frequently engaging study on an important subject, and is well worth reading.'' Ars Disputandi on-line journal
'... a work which is both an exposition of Kierkegaard's own writing with all its multiple ironies and ellipses and an essay in the philosophy of language...' Modern Believing
'[This book] is full of energy and precision. Shakespeare is convinced of the transforming reality of the God we meet in Christ, and for this reason he challenges both believers and sceptics to remove the ideological shackles by which that transformation is most readily avoided.' Connections
'... a wonderful contribution to the ongoing debate between realist and anti-realist interpretations of Kierkegaard... Shakespeare is to be commended for his own passionate quest to inhabit the space of difference between realists and anti-realists. His search to be faithful to SK and God is in evidence throughout although he is no worshipper of SK per se. May his book get the wide readership it so justly deserves.' Soren Kierkegaard Newsletter
"""
Avoiding any kind of uncritical hero-worship, the contributors wrestle with Kierkegaard's writings and the challenges they pose to contemporary politics and ethics - not least those inspired by `postmodern' thinking. And the book opens with an indispensable introductory essay which charts the history of Kierkegaard interpretation in this area. Kierkegaard: The Self in Society dispels the myths which still surround the enigmatic Dane, and sets the agenda for future debate.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Notes on the Contributors
Editors' Introduction
The Place of the World in Kierkegaard's Ethics; M.G.Piety
Climacan Politics: Polis and Person in Kierkegaard's Postscript; Robert L.Perkins
The Possibilities for Personhood in a Context of (Hitherto Unknown) Possibilities; Anita Craig
Something Anti-Social About Works of Love; Peter George
Kierkegaard's Critique of Pure Irony; Anthony Rudd
Books About Nothing? Kierkegaard's Liberating Rhetoric; Steven Shakespeare
Is Love of Neighbour the Love of an Individual?; Martin Andic
Cities of the Dead: the Relation of Person and Polis in Kierkegaard's Works of Love; Hugh Pyper
Repetition and Justice: A Derridean/Kierkegaardian Reading of the Subject; Mark Dooley
A 'Socio-reading' of the Kierkegaardian Self: or, the Space of Lowliness in the Time of the Disciple; Jim Perkinson
'But I am Almost Never Understood...' or, Who Killed Soren Kierkegaard?; Bruce Kirmmse
Abraham the Communist; Andras Nagy
Index
"
Schelling therefore turned to the method of ‘construction’: less a causal explanation than a showing, an exhibition of the infinite in the finite. This was a demonstration allied to a certain experience or intuition of the absolute.
In his Philosophy of Art, Schelling sets out a construction of art as a determination of the absolute in various ways, always grounded in an absolute indifference. He begins with music, which he presents as rooted in a sonority which is the aural expression of that indifference, punctuated by rhythmic multiplicity.
In drone metal, we find this sonorous absolute manifest in crushing slowness: the minimal interruption of the black hole of sonority by sparse beats. However, rather than allowing light and consciousness to take flight (pace certain tendencies in Schelling), such indifference acts as an infinite drag upon finitude. This essay thus attempts the construction of the absolute in view of Conan’s early doom/drone EP Horseback Battle Hammer. Musically and lyrically, it will show Conan’s work to be the epitome of audible heaviness, an intuition of the death of intuition. Their minimalist rhythm and lyrics demonstrate the sucking pull of an absolute swamp, where even speed becomes an agonising slowness of dissolution: ‘Bodies flow to the bottom/always flow to the bottom’ (Conan, ‘Satsumo’).