Between the Canon and the Messiah: The Structure of Faith in Contemporary Continental Thought

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Dickinson traces the development of two concepts, the messianic and the canonical, as they circulate, interweave and contest each other in the work of three prominent continental philosophers: Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben, though a strong supporting cast of Jan Assmann, Gershom Scholem, Jacob Taubes and Paul Ricoeur, among others, also play their respective roles throughout this study. He isolates how their various interactions with their chosen terms reflects a good deal of what is said within the various discourses that constitute what we have conveniently labelled, often in mistakenly monolithic terms, as 'Theology'. By narrowing the scope of this study to the dynamics generated historically by these contrasting terms, he also seeks to determine what exactly lies at the heart of theology's seemingly most treasured object: the presentation beyond any representation, the supposed true nucleus of all revelation and what lies behind any search for a 'theology of immanence' today.

Reviews

This text is particularly helpful as an exposition of how this general theme develops in the work of scholars and topics of contemporary interest: Agamben, Assmann, Benjamin, Butler, Derrida, Ricouer, Scholem and Taubes ... All in all, this book will be of interest to philosophers and theologians working in the area of contemporary continental social theory associated with the work of Agamben and his circle. * Heythrop Journal *
In this impressive new book, Dickinson sets forth a compelling agenda for a radical theological hermeneutics. With excellent and detailed readings of Agamben, Derrida, Benjamin, Ricoeur and Butler, Between Canon and Messiah reconfigures our map of contemporary philosophy and theology. -- Clayton Crockett, Associate Professor and Director of Religious Studies at the University of Central Arkansas, USA

Author Bio

Colby Dickinson is Assistant Professor of Theology at Loyola University Chicago, USA.