Overview

One of the most complicated and ambiguous tendencies in contemporary western societies is the phenomenon referred to as the “turn to religion.” In philosophy, one of the most original thinkers critically questioning this “turn” is Jean-Luc Nancy. Re-treating Religion is the first volume to analyze his long-term project “The Deconstruction of Christianity,” especially his major statement of it in Dis-Enclosure. Nancy conceives monotheistic religion and secularization not as opposite worldviews that succeed each other in time but rather as springing from the same history. This history consists in a paradoxical tendency to contest one’s own foundations—whether God, truth, origin, humanity, or rationality—as well as to found itself on the void of this contestation. Nancy calls this unique combination of self-contestation and self-foundation the “self-deconstruction” of the Western world. The book includes discussion with Nancy himself, who contributes a substantial “Preamble” and a concluding dialogue with the volume editors. The contributions follow Nancy in tracing the complexities of Western culture back to the persistent legacy of monotheism, in order to illuminate the tensions and uncertainties we face in the twenty-first century.

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Features some of Nancy's clearest, most succinct formulations of his approach to the question of Christianity. A comprehensive and splendidly timely account of a debate of immense importance.-Martin Crowley

Features some of Nancy's clearest, most succinct formulations of his approach to the question of Christianity. A comprehensive and splendidly timely account of a debate of immense importance. -- -Martin Crowley Queens' College

<br>Features some of Nancy's clearest, most succinct formulations of his approach to the question of Christianity. A comprehensive and splendidly timely account of a debate of immense importance.-Martin Crowley<p><br>

Author Information

Alena Alexandrova is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen. Jean-Luc Nancy (1940–2021) was Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Université de Strasbourg and one of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century’s foremost thinkers of politics, art, and the body. His wide-ranging thought runs through many books, including Being Singular Plural, The Ground of the Image, Corpus, The Disavowed Community, and Sexistence. His book The Intruder was adapted into an acclaimed film by Claire Denis.

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