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. Title page Copyright page Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Re-examining the normative traditions of theological discourse Dialectics versus the antinomies of (antinomian?) thought Outline of this study Part I Between Philosophy and Theology Chapter 1 The Legacy of an Antinomian Messianism within a Jewish Historical Context Recurring antinomian gestures: On the return to Saint Paul in contemporary thought Gershom Scholem and Jacob Taubes on the historical significance of Sabbatianism Jacob Taubes and the division between “Judaisms” and “Christianities” The re-entrance of immanence Chapter 2 Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben on the Processes of Messianicity and Canonicity Derrida on economic and aneconomic processes Deconstruction and canonicity The messianic confronts the canon in the work of Derrida Derrida on the mystical foundations of law and canonical forms Deconstruction as “thwarted messianism”: Agamben’s reading of Derrida Agamben on the theopolitical dimensions of the “messianic” Distinguishing canons: Between more or less violence Derrida’s response to Agamben Beyond the archive, toward the canon: The irresolvable tension between Derrida and Agamben Archives/Fevers Agamben on testimony and the archive Lingering questions Toward a prophetic “theology of creation” Revisiting immanence as a messianic disruption: The return to Judaic origins Part II The Radical Hermeneutics of Theology Chapter 3 The Violence of the Canon: A Contemporary Context for the Canonical Form Jan Assmann on the historical emergence of the canon A “weak notion of truth” Messianic forces within canonical representations in Walter Benjamin Benjamin and the sacred text Fragmentary glimpses of the canonical form Toward forming the canonical in Benjamin Initial conclusions Chapter 4 The Necessity of Hermeneutics The “exceptionalism” of Ricoeur’s hermeneutics and the bid for an ethical canon The “hermeneutics of canonicity”: Phariseeism and its relation to the Prophetic The “exceptions” and aporias of authority A happy canon? The guises of violence, or on the difficulties of constructing an ontotheological bridge between metaphor and politics History or time How metaphor reigns politically Potentiality versus actuality Tentative conclusions to a perpetual debate A Levinasian core: On an ethical affinity between Judith Butler and Paul Ricoeur The dialectics of oneself as another Judith Butler on the dialectics of representation Radical hermeneutics Conclusion Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Conclusion Bibliography Index