The Weakness of God
A Theology of the Event
1st Edition
Published on 20. March 2020
374 pages
978-0-253-01351-4 (ISBN)
Description
The author of
What Would Jesus Deconstruct? makes "a bold attempt to reconfigure the terms of debate around the topic of divine omnipotence" (
Choice).
Applying an ever more radical hermeneutics-including Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology, Derridian deconstruction, and feminism-John D.Caputo breaks down the name of God in this irrepressible book. Instead of looking at God as merely a name, Caputo views it as an event, or what the name conjures or promises in the future. For Caputo, the event exposes God as weak, unstable, and barely functional. While this view of God flies in the face of most religions and philosophies, it also puts up a serious challenge to fundamental tenets of theology and ontology. Along the way, Caputo's readings of the New Testament, especially of Paul's view of the Kingdom of God, help to support the "weak force" theory. This penetrating work cuts to the core of issues and questions-What is the nature of God? What is the nature of being? What is the relationship between God and being? What is the meaning of forgiveness, faith, piety, or transcendence?-that define the terrain of contemporary philosophy of religion.
"Caputo comes out of the closet as a theologian in this work." -Catherine Keller, Drew University
"Caputo has a gift for explaining Continental philosophy's jargon succinctly and accurately, and despite technical and foreign terms, this book will engage upper-level undergraduates. Includes scriptural and general indexes... Highly recommended." - Choice
Applying an ever more radical hermeneutics-including Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology, Derridian deconstruction, and feminism-John D.Caputo breaks down the name of God in this irrepressible book. Instead of looking at God as merely a name, Caputo views it as an event, or what the name conjures or promises in the future. For Caputo, the event exposes God as weak, unstable, and barely functional. While this view of God flies in the face of most religions and philosophies, it also puts up a serious challenge to fundamental tenets of theology and ontology. Along the way, Caputo's readings of the New Testament, especially of Paul's view of the Kingdom of God, help to support the "weak force" theory. This penetrating work cuts to the core of issues and questions-What is the nature of God? What is the nature of being? What is the relationship between God and being? What is the meaning of forgiveness, faith, piety, or transcendence?-that define the terrain of contemporary philosophy of religion.
"Caputo comes out of the closet as a theologian in this work." -Catherine Keller, Drew University
"Caputo has a gift for explaining Continental philosophy's jargon succinctly and accurately, and despite technical and foreign terms, this book will engage upper-level undergraduates. Includes scriptural and general indexes... Highly recommended." - Choice
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Content
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: A Theology of the Event
- Part One: The Weakness of God
- 1 God without Sovereignty
- 2 St. Paul on the Logos of the Cross
- 3 The Beautiful Risk of Creation: On Genesis ad literam (Almost)
- 4 Omnipotence, Unconditionality, and the Weak Force of God
- Hermeneutical Interlude: Two Keys to the Kingdom
- 5 The Poetics of the Impossible
- 6 Hyper-Realism and the Hermeneutics of the Call
- Part Two: The Kingdom of God: Sketches of a Sacred Anarchy
- 7 Metanoetics: The Seventh Day, or Making All Things New
- 8 Quotidianism: Every Day, or Keeping Time Holy
- 9 Back to the Future: Peter Damian on the Remission of Sin and Changing the Past
- 10 Forgiven Time: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
- 11 "Lazarus, Come Out": Rebirth and Resurrection
- 12 The Event of Hospitality: On Being Inside/Outside the Kingdom of God
- Appendix to Part Two: Newly Discovered Fragments on the Kingdom of God from "The Gospel of Miriam
- A Concluding Prayer
- Notes
- General Index
- Scriptural Index
