Sartre and Theology

Description

Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the twentieth century's most prominent atheists. But his philosophy was informed by theological writers and themes in ways that have not previously been acknowledged. In Sartre and Theology, Kirkpatrick examines Sartre's philosophical formation and rarely discussed early work, demonstrating how, and which, theology shaped Sartre's thinking. She also shows that Sartre's philosophy - especially Being and Nothingness and Existentialism is A Humanism - contributed to several prominent twentieth-century theologies, examining Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Liberation theologians's rebuttals and appropriations of Sartre.For philosophers, this work opens up an unmined vein of influence on Sartre's work which illuminates his conceptual divergences from the German phenomenological tradition. And for theologians, it offers insights into a theologically informed atheism which provoked responses from some of the twentieth-century's greatest theologians - an atheism from which we can still learn much today. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Sartre and theology: An odd couple? Sartre and God Sartre and theology Chapter outlines Part 1 Sartre’s theological inheritance 1 Vita brevis Childhood At the École Normale Out of obscurity Out of the war Hope Now 2 Sartre’s theological formation: In philosophy Sartre’s readings from youth Sartre’s mémoire Philosophers and mystics Divided followers of Augustine Bérulle Descartes Jansenism Port-Royal Malebranche Pascal The Pensées Quietism Conclusion 3 Sartre’s theological formation: In literature The century of Augustine Les moralistes Theatre Le siècle des lumières The theological ‘return’ in early twentieth-century literature The decade of sin Mauriac Bernanos Claudel Sartre’s biographies Conclusion Part 2 Sartre’s theological themes 4 Being and Nothingness Sartre’s theological language The pessimistic Sartre: Anxiety, bad faith, being-with-others Anxiety Bad faith The body and the look Being with others The alienation of love The optimistic Sartre: Freedom The ambivalent Sartre? 5 ‘Existentialism Is a Humanism’ Conclusion Part 3 Sartre’s theological legacy 6 Sartre and Protestant theology: Barth and Tillich Sartre and Karl Barth Das Nichtige Sartre and das Nichtige Sartre and the other Sartre’s and Barth’s methodology Sartre and Tillich Tillich’s method Tillich’s ontology Tillich’s hamartiology Sartre in Tillich The impossibility of identity The impossibility of community Conclusion 7 Sartre and Catholic theology: Marcel and Wojtyla Sartre and Marcel ‘Being and Nothingness’ (1943) ‘Testimony and Existentialism’ The Mystery of Being Sartre and Wojtyla 8 Sartre and Orthodox theology: Yannaras and Zizioulas Vladimir Lossky Christos Yannaras Person and Eros ‘An Orthodox Comment on the Death of God’ The Schism of Philosophy John Zizioulas Conclusion 9 Sartre and Liberation theology: James H. Cone Black liberation theology Black Theology and Black Power A Black Theology of Liberation South American liberation theology Feminist liberation theology 10 Sartre’s theological future Works cited Index