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"Caputo's book is riveting.... A singular achievement of stylistic brio and impeccable scholarship, it breaks new ground in making a powerful case for treating Derrida as homo religiosis.... There can be no mistaking the importance of Caputo's work." —Edith Wyschogrod"No one interested in Derrida, in Caputo, or in the larger question of postmodernism and religion can afford to ignore this pathbreaking study. Taking full advantage of the most recent and least discussed writings of Derrida, it offers a careful and comprehensive account of the religious dimension of Derrida's thought." —Merold Westphal
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THE
Prayers and OF
JACQUES DERRIDA Religion without Religion
JOHN D. CAPUTO
INDIANA UN IVERSITY PRESS
BLOOMI NGTON & IN DIANAPOLIS
© 1997 by Jolm D. Caputo
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includ ing photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses' Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48 1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataioging in PubIication Data
Caputo, John D . The prayers a n d tears o f Jacques Derrida religion without religion / Jolm D. Caputo. p. c. (The Indiana Series in the philosophy of religion) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 253 33268 0 (d.) ISBN 0 253 21112 3 (pbk.) 1. Deconstruction. 2. Derrida, Jacques Religion. 3. Religion. 4. Irreligion. 1. Title. II. Series. B809.6.P37 1997 19�c21 3
96 47839
4 5 02 01 00 99 98
To Katie, for songs and lattghtel� for ParisianjJhantoms and Italian jumping ropes
Acknowledgments Abbreviations
Xl
xiii
Introduction: A Passion for the Impossible A Map for the Perplexed
XVII
xxvii
I. The Apophatic
1
§1. God Is Not diferance 1 §2. Dreaming the Impossible Dream: Derrida and Levinas on the Impossible 20 §3 . Affirmation at the Limits: How Not to Speak 26 §4. Save the Name, Wholly Other: Toward a General Apophatics 41 •
Edifying Divertissement No. 1. Bedeviling Faith 57
II. The Apocalyptic
69
§5 . Viens! 69 §6. Messianic Time: D errid a and Blanchot 77 §7. An Apocalypse sans Apocalypse to Jacques of El Biar 88
viii CONTENTS
§8. The Secret 101 •
Edifying Divertissement No. 2. From Elea to Elohim: The God of the Same, the God of the Other 113
III. The Messianic
117
§9. Of Marx and the Messiah 118 §10. Messianic Passion and the Religion of Saint Jacques 134 §11. Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (Almost) 151
IV.
The Gift
160
§12. The Time of Giving and Forgiving 161 • Edifying Divertissement No. 3. Traditions and the World-Play 181
§13. Abraham's Gift 188 §14. Abraham and the Pharisees 212 •
Edifying Divertissement No. 4. Deconstruction and the Kingdom of God 222
V. Circumcision
230
§15. Hegel and the Jews 230 •
Edifying Divertissement No. 5 . Deferring Incarnation-and Jesus the Jew 243 §16. Circumcision 250
§17. Is Deconstruction Really a Jewish Science? 263
CON T E NTS
VI. Confession
281
§1 8. The Son of These Tears: The Confession of Jacques de la rue Saint-Augustin 281 •
Edifying Divertissement No. 6. A Prayer 308
§19. These Weeping Eyes, Those Seeing Tears: T