Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision

by Douglas Harink (Editor)

Overview

Description: The apostle Paul was a man of many journeys. We are usually familiar with the geographical ones he made in his own time. This volume traces others--Paul's journeys in our time, as he is co-opted or invited to travel (sometimes as abused slave, sometimes as trusted guide) with modern and recent Continental philosophers and political theorists. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Benjamin; Taubes, Badiou, Zizek, and Agamben--Paul journeys here among the philosophers. In these essays you are invited to travel with them into the regions of philosophy, hermeneutics, political theory, and theology. You will certainly hear the philosophers speak. But Paul will not remain silent. Above the sounds of the journey his voice comes through, loud and clear. Endorsements: "Is it good news that Zizek, Badiou and Agamben have refound Paul? I am not yet sure, since this may signal a new route into the Word or a new route out. Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision offers urgent instruction on how to keep this a route in. And that is very good news indeed. A powerful, brilliant, and urgent book!" --Peter Ochs University of Virginia. "To the surprise of many, the apostle Paul has brought new energy to continental philosophy. But to date, the 'Pauline turn' in contemporary theory has been rather isolated from scholars in biblical studies--where Paul is undergoing a different kind of reconsideration. Finally, this volume changes all of that, bringing together philosophers, biblical scholars, and theologians to assess and engage the 'postmodern Paul,' intimating a Pauline revolution that not even Zizek could have dreamed." --James K. A. Smith Calvin College "This collection of essays forms a front that takes on recent philosophical interpretations of Paul by the likes of Heidegger, Benjamin, Taubes, Badiou, Zizek, and Agamben with the best voices in contemporary theology and biblical studies. What you get is nothing less than a new composition of the very core structures that make up theology, critical theory, and biblical studies--indeed the humanities as such! In this way, these arguments enact a very Paulinean Event that stands toe-to-toe with philosophy's greats figures in order to identify the truth of God's act in History--The Scandal of the Incarnation!" --Creston Davis Rollins College "In this wonderful collection of essays, an adept team of scholars, expertly marshaled and framed by Douglas Harink, engages with the intriguing conversation currently unfolding between the apostle Paul and certain modern European theorists. The result is a dialogue rich with insights flowing in both directions--from modern theory to new (or recovered) angles of illumination on Paul, and from the apostle's charged texts back to the presuppositions and conceits of modern theory. That the view of Paul often pressed is 'apocalyptic,' in the sense of drawing on the seminal work of J. Louis (Lou) Martyn, makes the analysis still richer. The result is a book that both educates and delights." --Douglas A. Campbell Duke Divinity School "There is a rich education to be had within these covers. On the one hand, the essayists offer crucial insights into what all the fuss is about regarding the philosophical rediscovery of the apostle Paul, and readers come to appreciate his varied fate in the hands of Taubes, Badiou, Agamben, and Zizek. On the other hand, these secular despoilers of Paul are themselves despoiled here, and Christian theology has set before it a wealth of provocations to better faithfulness and understanding. Taken together, these essays illumine the contours of the apocalyptic gospel of God at the heart of Paul's own witness and make plain its import for contemporary political thought. Philosophers and theologians alike are well reminded--indeed well warned--of the dynamite they take into their hands when, in quest of a better human politics, they turn to Paul." --Philip G. Ziegler University of Aberdeen About the Contr

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606086629
Publisher:	Cascade Books
Publication date:	02/12/2010
Series:	Theopolitical Visions , #7
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Douglas Harink is Professor of Theology at The King's University College in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is the author of Paul among the Postliberals (2003), and 1 and 2 Peter (2009) in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

Acknowledgments ix

List of Contributors xi

Introduction: From Apocalypse to Philosophy-and Back Douglas Harink 1

Part I From Apocalypse to Philosophy

1 The Gospel Invades Philosophy J. Louis Martyn 13

Part II Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Benjamin

2 Living "As If Not": Messianic Becoming or the Practice of Nihilism? Travis Kroeker 37

3 Heidegger's Paul and Radical Orthodoxy on the Structure of Christian Hope Justin D. Klassen 64

4 The Messiah's Quiet Approach: Walter Benjamin's Messianic Politics Grant Poettcker 90

Part III Badiou and Žižek

5 A Very Particular Universalism: Badiou and Paul Stephen Fowl 119

6 Ideological Closure in the Christ-Event: A Marxist Response to Alain Badiou's Paul Neil Elliott 135

7 Subjects between Death and Resurrection: Badiou, Žižek, and St. Paul Geoffrey Holsclaw 155

Part IV Agamben

8 The Cross as the Fulcrum of Politics: Expropriating Agamben on Paul Paul J. Griffiths 179

9 Messianic or Apocalyptic? Engaging Agamben on Paul and Politics Ryan L. Hansen 198

Part V Hermeneutics, Ecclesia, Time

10 Hermeneutics of Unbelief: Philosophical Readings of Paul Jens Zimmermann 227

11 On the Exigency of a Messianic Ecclesia: An Engagement with Philosophical Readers of Paul Gordon Zerbe 254

12 Time and Politics in Four Commentaries on Romans Douglas Harink 282

Bibliography 313

Index of Names 327

Index of Subject Keywords 330

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Is it good news that Zizek, Badiou and Agamben have refound Paul? I am not yet sure, since this may signal a new route into the Word or a new route out. Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision offers urgent instruction on how to keep this a route in. And that is very good news indeed. A powerful, brilliant, and urgent book!"
—Peter Ochs
University of Virginia.

"To the surprise of many, the apostle Paul has brought new energy to continental philosophy. But to date, the 'Pauline turn' in contemporary theory has been rather isolated from scholars in biblical studies—where Paul is undergoing a different kind of reconsideration. Finally, this volume changes all of that, bringing together philosophers, biblical scholars, and theologians to assess and engage the 'postmodern Paul,' intimating a Pauline revolution that not even Zizek could have dreamed."
—James K. A. Smith
Calvin College

"This collection of essays forms a front that takes on recent philosophical interpretations of Paul by the likes of Heidegger, Benjamin, Taubes, Badiou, Zizek, and Agamben with the best voices in contemporary theology and biblical studies. What you get is nothing less than a new composition of the very core structures that make up theology, critical theory, and biblical studies—indeed the humanities as such! In this way, these arguments enact a very Paulinean Event that stands toe-to-toe with philosophy's greats figures in order to identify the truth of God's act in History—The Scandal of the Incarnation!"
—Creston Davis
Rollins College

"In this wonderful collection of essays, an adept team of scholars, expertly marshaled and framed by Douglas Harink, engages with the intriguing conversation currently unfolding between the apostle Paul and certain modern European theorists. The result is a dialogue rich with insights flowing in both directions—from modern theory to new (or recovered) angles of illumination on Paul, and from the apostle's charged texts back to the presuppositions and conceits of modern theory. That the view of Paul often pressed is 'apocalyptic,' in the sense of drawing on the seminal work of J. Louis (Lou) Martyn, makes the analysis still richer. The result is a book that both educates and delights."
—Douglas A. Campbell
Duke Divinity School

"There is a rich education to be had within these covers. On the one hand, the essayists offer crucial insights into what all the fuss is about regarding the philosophical rediscovery of the apostle Paul, and readers come to appreciate his varied fate in the hands of Taubes, Badiou, Agamben, and Zizek. On the other hand, these secular despoilers of Paul are themselves despoiled here, and Christian theology has set before it a wealth of provocations to better faithfulness and understanding. Taken together, these essays illumine the contours of the apocalyptic gospel of God at the heart of Paul's own witness and make plain its import for contemporary political thought. Philosophers and theologians alike are well reminded—indeed well warned—of the dynamite they take into their hands when, in quest of a better human politics, they turn to Paul."
—Philip G. Ziegler
University of Aberdeen

Editorial Reviews

"Is it good news that Zizek, Badiou and Agamben have refound Paul? I am not yet sure, since this may signal a new route into the Word or a new route out. Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision offers urgent instruction on how to keep this a route in. And that is very good news indeed. A powerful, brilliant, and urgent book!"
—Peter Ochs
University of Virginia.

"To the surprise of many, the apostle Paul has brought new energy to continental philosophy. But to date, the 'Pauline turn' in contemporary theory has been rather isolated from scholars in biblical studies—where Paul is undergoing a different kind of reconsideration. Finally, this volume changes all of that, bringing together philosophers, biblical scholars, and theologians to assess and engage the 'postmodern Paul,' intimating a Pauline revolution that not even Zizek could have dreamed."
—James K. A. Smith
Calvin College

"This collection of essays forms a front that takes on recent philosophical interpretations of Paul by the likes of Heidegger, Benjamin, Taubes, Badiou, Zizek, and Agamben with the best voices in contemporary theology and biblical studies. What you get is nothing less than a new composition of the very core structures that make up theology, critical theory, and biblical studies—indeed the humanities as such! In this way, these arguments enact a very Paulinean Event that stands toe-to-toe with philosophy's greats figures in order to identify the truth of God's act in History—The Scandal of the Incarnation!"
—Creston Davis
Rollins College

"In this wonderful collection of essays, an adept team of scholars, expertly marshaled and framed by Douglas Harink, engages with the intriguing conversation currently unfolding between the apostle Paul and certain modern European theorists. The result is a dialogue rich with insights flowing in both directions—from modern theory to new (or recovered) angles of illumination on Paul, and from the apostle's charged texts back to the presuppositions and conceits of modern theory. That the view of Paul often pressed is 'apocalyptic,' in the sense of drawing on the seminal work of J. Louis (Lou) Martyn, makes the analysis still richer. The result is a book that both educates and delights."
—Douglas A. Campbell
Duke Divinity School

"There is a rich education to be had within these covers. On the one hand, the essayists offer crucial insights into what all the fuss is about regarding the philosophical rediscovery of the apostle Paul, and readers come to appreciate his varied fate in the hands of Taubes, Badiou, Agamben, and Zizek. On the other hand, these secular despoilers of Paul are themselves despoiled here, and Christian theology has set before it a wealth of provocations to better faithfulness and understanding. Taken together, these essays illumine the contours of the apocalyptic gospel of God at the heart of Paul's own witness and make plain its import for contemporary political thought. Philosophers and theologians alike are well reminded—indeed well warned—of the dynamite they take into their hands when, in quest of a better human politics, they turn to Paul."
—Philip G. Ziegler
University of Aberdeen

From the Publisher