Ebook
This book gathers the European reception of John. D. Caputo's proposal for a radical theology of our time. Philosophers and theologians from within Europe respond to Caputo's attempt to configure a less rigid, less dogmatic form of religion. These scholars, in turn, receive responses by Caputo. This volume so aims to strengthen the development of radical theology in Europe and abroad.
Acknowledgments
John D. Caputo’s Radical Theology in Europe: An Introduction
Joeri Schrijvers and Martin Koci
Part I: Radical Theology and Politics
1Radical Theology as Political Theology: Exploring the Fragments of God’s Weak Power
Calvin Ullrich
John D. Caputo
2 A Radical Fidelity: John D. Caputo and the Future of Religion
Marie Chabbert
To Chabbert
John D. Caputo
3Is it Radical Enough? The Ethical Call of Caputo’s Theopoetics to Stick to the Difficulty of Life in Light of Black Lives Matter
To Damen
John D. Caputo
Part II: Radical Theology and The Tragic Versus Hope, and Love
4The Foolish Call of Love
George Pattison
To Pattison
John D. Caputo
5 From Kenosis to Kenoma: The Enigma of a Place in Derrida and Caputo
Agata Bielik-Robson
To Bielik-Robson
John D. Caputo
6A Post-Belief Europe and the Offer of John D. Caputo
Maria Francesca French and Barry Taylor
To French and Taylor
John D. Caputo
Part III: Radical Theology and Christianity
7The Call and the Cross in Caputo and Bultmann
Rick Benjamins
To Benjamins
John D. Caputo
8 Caputo and the Unidentifiability of God
Christophe Chalamet
To Chalamet
John D. Caputo
9 God—The Opportunity for Continued Discontent
Jan-Olav Henriksen
To Henriksen
John D. Caputo
Part IV: Radical Theology Within Theology and Philosophy
10Radical Theology’s Place within Theology
Justin Sands
To Sands
John D. Caputo
11 Keeping Weakness Weak to Make It Strong: Caputo’s Theopoetics of “Event”
Erik Meganck
To Meganck
John D. Caputo
12Hospitality in Action: A Question for Practical Theology?
Pascal Renaud-Grosbras
To Renaud-Grosbras
John D. Caputo
13Care and Decay: A Phenomenology of the Queer Body (With Constant Reference to the HIV-Positive Flesh)
Nikolaas Cassidy-Deketelaere
To Cassidy-Deketelaere
John D. Caputo
Index
About the Contributors
Academic debates, like bread, can quickly become stale if not infused with new ingredients. By resituating John D. Caputo’s work and legacy within a European context, this volume brings much needed vitality to postmodern philosophy of religion and envisions exciting directions for its future. Including disciples and critics of radical theology among its contributors, the volume demonstrates both the continuing relevance of Caputo’s questions for the field and also the productive implications of his proposals. This book is a game changer because it reminds us of why the game matters so much in the first place.
Such an important book, not just for those wanting to better understand Caputo but for those wondering what the future of religion and of theology might be in our post-Christian world. Fundamentally, The European Reception of John D. Caputo’s Thought questions how we honour our debts to the traditions we inhabit, especially when we want to contest those traditions. In doing so, it provides a model for the future of radical theology: affirming and acknowledging the concrete conditions in which our theology is generated while nevertheless hoping to enliven those conditions further through our radical theological reflection.
The thirteen essays in this extensive anthology add substantial and convincing evidence to the claim that John D. Caputo is now and has been for decades a dominant global thinker, one who haunts both philosophy and theology with stimulating specters of the radical. The international sensitivities of the contributors and the eclectic diversity of their topics signal the richness of Caputo’s thought and prophesy the future intellectual endurance of his protean interests and insights. Kudos, therefore, to the editors and contributors for expanding the secondary Caputo bibliography with such a provocative and profitable text.
[This] is a collection of high-quality contributions, both varied and coherent, giving detailed, thoughtful, and challenging discussions of Caputo’s thought written by thinkers in or from Europe. Caputo’s responses add further coherence and an engaging kind of dialogical character. In bringing together authors in Europe, this volume works to establish Caputo’s themes here, with continuity but perhaps less reliance on the North American scene. The questions it asks also invite further radical questions about Europe, the difficult glory of its haunting past, and the promise of its insistent future (perhaps).
Joeri Schrijvers is extraordinary professor of the School of Philosophy at North-West University Potchefstroom.
Martin Koci is assistant professor at the Institute for Fundamental Theology and Dogmatics, KU Linz.