Paul's New Moment: Continental Philosophy and the Future of Christian Theology

by John Milbank, Slavoj Žižek (Contributor), Creston Davis (Contributor)

The rediscovery of the apostle Paul by atheistic or agnostic European philosophers is one of the most striking recent developments in philosophyand certainly one of keen interest to the church. These philosophers view Paul as having a revolutionary understanding of authority and politics.Bringing together Radical Orthodox theologian John Milbank, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, and Creston Davis, who has been a student of both, this book reflects on Paul's new moment in secular philosophy. In a debate format, Žižek brings Marxist and postMarxist ideas into a discussion with Milbank about the influence of Paul. The book also includes a contribution from Catherine Pickstock.

Genres: Theology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Christianity

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

About the author

Professor John Milbank is Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics and the Director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. He has previously taught at the Universities of Lancaster, Cambridge and Virginia. He is the author of several books of which the most well-known is Theology and Social Theory and the most recent Being Reconciled: Ontology and Pardon. He is one of the editors of the Radical Orthodoxy collection of essays which occasioned much debate. In general he has endeavoured in his work to resist the idea that secular norms of understanding should set the agenda for theology and has tried to promote the sense that Christianity offers a rich and viable account of the whole of reality.

Reviews

[Lowell AfdahlRice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Zizek article in Part 2 is great. The rest is filler and copied from other sources. Very disappointing.

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good overview of the neo-metaphysical camp-- you got the Thomis Milbank, the Hegelian Zizek, and a couple other folks on the middle or off to the side.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although mostly heretical, and largely unsourced, it was a very interesting, complex read. Paul, though, could have been taken completely out of the book, and it probably wouldn't have changed much.