Questioning God

In 15 insightful essays, Jacques Derrida and an international group of scholars of religion explore postmodern thinking about God and consider the nature of forgiveness in relation to the paradoxes of the gift. Among the themes addressed by contributors are the possibilities of imagining God as unthinkable, imagining God as non-patriarchal, imagining a return to Augustine, and imagining an age in which praise is far more important than narrative. Questioning God moves readers beyond the parameters of metaphysical reason and modernist rationality as it attempts to think the questions of God and forgiveness in a postmodernist context.

Contributors include John D. Caputo, Jacques Derrida, Mark Dooley, Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Robert Gibbs, Jean Greisch, Kevin Hart, Richard Kearney, Cleo McNelly Kearns, John Milbank, Regina M. Schwartz, Michael J. Scanlon, and Graham Ward.

Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion--Merold Westphal, general editor

"What sets this work apart from the majority of other publications on the subject of postmodern theology and prevents it from descending into a sanctimonious hagiography of Derrida's genius is the presence among the contributors of Graham Ward and John Milbank, two of the founding members of the movement known as radical orthodoxy. This present work is the first to document supporters of radical orthodoxy critically engaging with proponents of Derridean deconstruction." --Perspectives Indiana University Press Indiana University Press

John D. Caputo is David R. Cook Chair of Philosophy at Villanova University. He is author of More Radical Hermeneutics; The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida; Against Ethics; and Radical Hermeneutics. He is co-editor (with Michael J. Scanlon) of God, the Gift, and Postmodernism.

Mark Dooley is John Henry Newman Scholar in Theology at University College, Dublin. He is author of The Politics of Exodus and From Aquinas to Derrida.

Michael J. Scanlon is Josephine C. Connelly Chair of Christian Theology at Villanova University. His articles have appeared in Catholic Theological Society of America Proceedings, New Theology Review, and Augustinian Studies.

Introduction: God Forgive John D. Caputo, Mark Dooley, Michael J. Scanlon

Part 1. Forgiving

1. To Forgive: The Unforgivable and the Imprescriptible Jacques Derrida

2. On Forgiveness: A Discussion with Jacques Derrida Moderated by Richard Kearney

3. Returning/Forgiving: Ethics and Theology Robert Gibbs

4. Forgiveness and Incarnation John Milbank

5. The Catastrophe of Memory: Derrida, Milbank and the (Im)possibility of Forgiveness Mark Dooley

Part 2. God

6. The God Who May Be Richard Kearney

7. On Interruption Kevin Hart

Response by Jacques Derrida

8. Questioning Narratives of God: The Immeasurable in Measures Regina M. Schwartz

Response by Jacques Derrida

9. Idipsum: Divine Selfhood and the Postmodern Subject Jean Greisch

10. The Humiliated Self as the Rhetorical Self Michael J. Scanlon

11. Questioning God Graham Ward

12. What Do I Love When I Love My God? Deconstruction and Radical Orthodoxy John D. Caputo

13. The Scandals of the Sign: The Virgin Mary as Supplement in the Religions of the Book Cleo McNelly Kearns

14. Being, Subjectivity, Otherness: The Idols of God Francis Schüssler Fiorenza

Contributors

Index