Originally posted on sciy.org by Rich Carlson on Fri 12 Jun 2009 04:58 PM PDT
The Monstrosity of Christ
Paradox or Dialectic?
Slavoj Žižek and John Milbank
Edited by Creston Davis
What matters is not so much that Žižek is
endorsing a demythologized, disenchanted Christianity without
transcendence, as that he is offering in the end (despite what he
sometimes claims) a heterodox version of Christian belief.
—John Milbank
To put it even more bluntly, my claim is that it is Milbank who is
effectively guilty of heterodoxy, ultimately of a regression to
paganism: in my atheism, I am more Christian than Milbank.
—Slavoj Žižek
In this corner, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who represents the
critical-materialist stance against religion's illusions; in the other
corner, "radical orthodox" theologian John Milbank, an influential and
provocative thinker who argues that theology is the only foundation
upon which knowledge, politics, and ethics can stand. In The
Monstrosity of Christ, Žižek and Milbank go head to head for three
rounds, employing an impressive arsenal of moves to advance their
positions and press their respective advantages. By the closing bell,
they have proven themselves worthy adversaries--and have also shown
that faith and reason are not simply and intractably opposed.
Žižek has long been interested in the emancipatory potential offered by
Christian theology. And Milbank, seeing global capitalism as the new
century's greatest ethical challenge, has pushed his own ontology in
more political and materialist directions. Their debate in The Monstrosity of Christ
concerns nothing less than the future of religion, secularity, and
political hope in light of a monsterful event—God becoming human. For
the first time since Žižek's turn toward theology, we have a true
debate between an atheist and a theologian about the very meaning of
theology, Christ, the Church, the Holy Ghost, universality, and the
foundations of logic. The result goes far beyond the popularized
atheist/theist point/counterpoint of recent books by Christopher
Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others.
Žižek begins, and Milbank answers, countering dialectics with
"paradox." The debate centers on the nature of and relation between
paradox and parallax, between analogy and dialectics, between
transcendent glory and liberation.
Short Circuits series, edited by Slavoj Žižek
About the Authors
Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher and cultural critic. He has published over thirty books, including Looking Awry, The Puppet and the Dwarf, and The Parallax View (these three published by the MIT Press).
John Milbank is an influential Christian theologian and the author of Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason and other books.
Creston Davis, who conceived of the encounter between Slavoj Žižek and John Milbank, studied under both men.
| Endorsements |
"The
contemporary return to the theological most dramatically occurs in this
book, as Zizek fully realizes his earlier Hegelian and Lacanian
theological work, a work that Milbank can essentially know as a
uniquely modern expression of nihilism. Nonetheless Milbank enters into
a genuine theological dialogue with this nihilism, and a truly new
theological discourse occurs. This effects a paradoxical union between
orthodoxy and heterodoxy, and between radical orthodoxy and radical
heterodoxy, which is perhaps the deepest motif of the contemporary
return to the theological." "In this dazzling dialogue, Zizek and Milbank change words and
cross swords, until the point where both recognize that Christ and
Hegel, in their monstrosity, look very much alike. A phenomenal
achievement!" |
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