Clandestine Theology : A Non-Philosopher's Confession of Faith

"In this new translation, Laruelle offers a serious and rigorous challenge to contemporary theological thought, calling into question the dominant understanding of the relation between Christ, theology, and philosophy, not only from a theoretical, but also political perspective. He achieves this through an inversion of St Paul's reading of Christ, through which the ground for Christianity shifts. It is no longer the 'event' of the resurrection, as philosophical and theological operation (Badiou's St Paul), so much as the Risen Himself that forms the starting point for a non-philosophical confession. Between the Greek and the Jew, Laruelle places the Gnostic-Christ in order to disrupt and overturn such theologico-philosophical interpretations of the resurrection and set the Risen within the radical immanence of Man-in-Person. Forming the basis for a non-Christianity, Clandestine Theology offers a more radical deconstruction of Christianity, resting upon the last identity of Man and the humanity of Christ as opposed to endless deferral or difference (Nancy) or the universalising economy of Ideas and Events (Badiou)"-- Provided by publisher Cover Contents Foreword Acknowledgements Translator’s note Introduction A clandestine theology A real critique of theology by faith We are not survivors of the tomb The Stranger-subject and the word Laruelle and the future of theology: A theoretical liturgy References Introduction Clandestine theology: The impossible homoousia and the destruction of the trinity An axiomatic of the trinity 1 Faith and belief Man-in-person as universal a priori The generic style and its two interpretations The confession of faith and theological duplicity Faith and dualyzation of belief Faith, fidelity, and grace Belief as unilateral paradox Faith as a priori posture Profess or confess faith? The identity-in-the-last-instance of faith and religion The category of the non-religious Christian The Name-of-Christ as first symbol The work of the confession of faith Faith transforms the works of the world Faith testifies to a forced speech 2 The Gospels: Models for non-Christianity A Gnostic Christ and the insurrection of faith The words of Jesus on life The sayings of Jesus: Theorems or axioms? Life, living, surviving, and glorious experience Christ according to St Paul: The Pauline reversal St Paul according to Jesus: The Pauline inversion The inverse of Christianity Christ as immanent mediation or medium-without-mediation Messianity as sub-version of Christianity On the plane of salvation, we make a tabula rasa The disciple and the apostle: A dualysis of the apostolic tradition The a priori defence of faith by the paraclete 3 Surviving scripture, glorious scripture Incarnation as clonage Should Christianity be deconstructed? Surviving scripture, surviving writing Glorious writing, risen among the signifying A non-Catholic thesis for the use of the reformation Fidelity as a rigorous method A theorem of salvation as work Two forms of atheism: Conformism and heresy How the without-religion adopts religion Heresy as theo-fiction and philo-fiction 4 Dualysis of the trinity Dualysis of revelation On the trinity as symptom On the trinity as circumcession In-the-last-paternity How God becomes Son of Man 5 A clandestine non-religion The Name-of-Man Philosophical and religious paradigms The two initial prejudices of all theology A theory of radical evil Post-ecclesial faith as last belief The end of beliefs and the exit from the post-ecclesial From the exit from belief to faithful access Towards a clandestine theology – Thought-faith A definitively non-sufficient grace: Against creation The reformation as model for non-religion The consummation of time Retreat and grace From sin to evil A clandestine and messianic life Notes Index