Desiring Theology / Edition 2

by Charles E. Winquist

Overview

One of the foremost scholars exploring the intersection of theology and continental philosophy, Charles E. Winquist argues for the possibility of theological thinking in a postmodern secular milieu. Moving beyond the now familiar reiteration of postmodernity's losses—the death of God, the displacement of the self, the end of history, the closure of the Book—Winquist equates a desire to think theologically with a desire, amidst postmodernity's disappointments, for a thinking that does not disappoint. To desire theology in this sense is to desire to know an "other" in and of language that can be valued in the forming of personal and communal identity. In this book, "desiring theology" carries another sense as well, for Winquist argues that, in the wake of psychoanalysis, theology must elaborate the meaning and importance of desire in its own discourse.

Winquist's work is tactical as well as theoretical, showing what kind of work theology can do in a postmodern age. He suggests that theology is closely akin to what Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari refer to as a minor intensive use of a major language. The minor intensive theological use of language, Winquist argues, pressures the ordinary weave of discourse and opens it to desire. Thus theology becomes a work against "the disappointment of thinking." Deeply engaged with the work of Nietzsche, Derrida, Tillich, Robert P. Scharlemann, and Mark C. Taylor, among others, this book is a significant addition to contemporary theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226902135
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	01/15/1995
Series:	Religion and Postmodernism
Edition description:	1
Pages:	173
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Charles E. Winquist is the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion at Syracuse University and the author of numerous books.

Table of Contents

Preface
1: The Exigency of Theological Thinking
2: Beginnings
3: The Incorrigibility of Mind and Transcendental Method
4: The Incorrigibility of the Body and the Refiguring of Discourse
5: Theological Text Production
6: Theological Surfaces: Heterology, Ontology, and Eschatology
7: Interventions
8: Theological Singularities: Following and Erring
9: Theology as a Minor Literature
10: Desiring Community
Index

Editorial Reviews

Winquist (religion, Syracuse U.) equates today's restlessness and anxiety with a desire for thinking that does not disappoint, does not disappear, and equates that with theological thinking. He also contends that in the wake of psychoanalysis, theology must provide a place and meaning for desire. He draws from and comments on philosophical and religious thinking from the ancient to the modern world. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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