Book contents
- Hope in a Secular Age
- Hope in a Secular Age
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Deconstruction
- Chapter 2 Negative Theology
- Chapter 3 The Discipline of Hope
- Chapter 4 Beyond Indeterminacy and Dogma
- Chapter 5 Atheism and the Future of Faith
- Chapter 6 Negative Political Theology
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
Chapter 4 - Beyond Indeterminacy and Dogma
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2020
- Hope in a Secular Age
- Hope in a Secular Age
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Deconstruction
- Chapter 2 Negative Theology
- Chapter 3 The Discipline of Hope
- Chapter 4 Beyond Indeterminacy and Dogma
- Chapter 5 Atheism and the Future of Faith
- Chapter 6 Negative Political Theology
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
Summary
This chapter argues that my account of hope offers an alternative to indeterminacy and dogma. Commentators such as John Caputo and Jean-Luc Marion claim that deconstruction and negative theology are incompatible; as they observe, Dionysius affirms Christian commitment while Derrida does not. In my reading, however, deconstruction and negative theology affirm a hope that is identical in kind, though not in content. Although Derrida and Dionysius express different hopes, they both construe hope as a discipline that incorporates self-critique. Through hope, it is possible to affirm particular beliefs and practices while acknowledging that every commitment is radically uncertain.
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- Hope in a Secular AgeDeconstruction, Negative Theology, and the Future of Faith, pp. 85 - 107Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019