Cross and Khôra

Deconstruction and Christianity in the Work of John D. Caputo

Marko Zlomislić, Neal DeRoo, Zlomislic, DeRoo

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9781606087831
  9781498253987
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630876937
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

This volume poses the question of the relationship between the two main influences on the thought of John D. Caputo, one of the most well-known philosophers of religion working in North America today: Jacques Derrida and Jesus Christ. Given the seemingly abstract character of Derrida's account of the messianic, how can one reconcile deconstruction and the "concrete messianism" of Christianity, as Caputo tries to do over and over again? How can one hold together the love of a God willing to be crucified and the dry, desert khora, which doesn't care? This collection of essays from world-renowned scholars seeks to illuminate the difficulties inherent in this seemingly contradictory pair of influences. With his trademark wit and humor, Caputo responds to his interlocutors while clarifying his position on numerous matters of interest to the church and in the academy. In addition to dealing with the concern for issues of hermeneutics, phenomenology, and negative theology for which Caputo has become famous, these essays also evaluate Caputo's legacy in fields previously not thought to be affected by his "deconstructive" version of religion: feminism, sacramental theology, Analytic philosophy of religion, and Christology.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Abbreviations
• Editors’ Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Weakness of God and the Iconic Logic of the Cross
• Chapter 2: Festivals of Holy Pain: In the Wake of Good Friday
• What Does the Cross Mean?: A Response to Sanders
• Chapter 3: The Kingdom and the Cross
• The Prodigal Son:A Response to Goicoechea
• Chapter 4: Without
• Only as Hauntology Is Religion without Religion Possible: A Response to Hart
• Chapter 5: The Kingdom: Possible and Impossible
• The Possibility of the Impossible: A Response to Kearney
• Chapter 6: Negative Theology and Deconstructive Ethics: Caputo’s Reading of the Mystical
• Returning Mystical Theology to the Trace: A Response to Carlson
• Chapter 7: Testing the Heart of Khôra: Anonymous or Amorous?
• The Chance of Love: A Response to Olthuis
• Chapter 8: On Witnessing and Love: A Dialogue with Caputo
• Love’s Number; or, On the Distinction between a Witness to Love and a Cost Accountant: A Response to Huntington
• Chapter 9: What Women Want: An (Eco)Feminist in Dialogue with Jack Caputo
• What Does Radical Hermeneutics Want?: A Response to Glazebrook
• Chapter 10: Of Phenomenology: A Recollection of Truth, Religion, and Art in the Work of John Caputo
• My Heretical Phenomenology: A Response to Buckley
• Chapter 11: On What It Means to Be Responsible: A Hermeneutical-Confucian Response to Caputo/Derrida
• On Being a Little More Radical about Hermeneutics: A Response to Madison
• Chapter 12: The “Weakness of God”: A New Theodicy
• The Insistence and Existence of God: A Response to DeRoo
• Chapter 13: From Radical Hermeneutics to the Weakness of God: John D. Caputo in Dialogue with Mark Dooley