Displacing Christian Origins: Philosophy, Secularity, and the New Testament

Review

"The time is ripe for Displacing Christian Origins. Over the past two or more decades, there has been a growing interest among many biblical scholars in continental philosophy. At the same time, there seems to be growing interest among some philosophers in moving beyond simply reading biblical texts without reference to or engagement with biblical scholarship. This brings much to the table, pushing biblical scholars and philosophers to engage one another with higher levels of literacy in the other's field." - Timothy K. Beal, Case Western Reserve University"

Product Description

Recent critical theory is curiously preoccupied with the metaphors and ideas of early Christianity, especially the religion of Paul. The haunting of secular thought by the very religion it seeks to overcome may seem surprising at first, but Ward Blanton argues that this recent return by theorists to the resources of early Christianity has precedent in modern and ostensibly secularizing philosophy, from Kant to Heidegger.

Displacing Christian Origins traces the current critical engagement of Agamben, Derrida, and Žižek, among others, back into nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century philosophers of early Christianity. By comparing these crucial moments in the modern history of philosophy with exemplars of modern biblical scholarship—David Friedrich Strauss, Adolf Deissmann, and Albert Schweitzer—Blanton offers a new way for critical theory to construe the relationship between the modern past and the biblical traditions to which we seem to be drawn once again.

An innovative contribution to the intellectual history of biblical exegesis, Displacing Christian Origins will promote informed and fruitful debate between religion and philosophy.