Agamben and Theology

Description

This book provides a view of the work of philosopher Giorgio Agamben in relation to his own most basic theological premises and the discipline of theology.

Colby Dickinson is a post-doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies (KULeuven, Belgium).

gamben has long been deeply concerned with theological issues. This book is the first, and also much needed, overview of Agamben's relation to theology. Striking the perfect balance between exposition and analysis, it deserves to be widely read. -- Kenneth Surin, Professor of Literature and Professor of Religion and Critical Theory, and Chair of the Program in Literature, Duke University, USA. This is a well-written, lucid and remarkably comprehensive introduction to a wide-ranging and intellectually challenging contemporary thinker. Exploring the extremities of what it is to be human, and a linguistic animal, Agamben's work pushes at the frontier where divine plenitude can becoming a terrifying absence that makes all our sovereignties and distinctions mere configurations of the will to power. In the gap between these possibilities and ambiguities, Agamben announces a messianic 'yes' to our bare existence. Dickinson's book clearly shows that all of Agamben's fundamental questions are theological in provenance and resonance. So anyone interested in the relationship between theology and contemporary continental thinking should read this...and ponder. -- Graham Ward, Professor in Contextual Theology and Ethics, University of Manchester, UK.