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Theology after Lacan: The Passion for the Real
The central thesis of this book is that theology in the wake of Lacanian psychoanalysis is devoid of the “the big Other”, i.e., a guarantee that a system of belief is forever secured by a master-signifier around which all meaning takes its place. Indeed, this book reverses this Only after Lacan can theology mean anything at all. It is precisely by rejecting the idol of God’s necessity (deus ex machina) that theology can only make sense in and through the wild untamable flux and fury of an uncontrollable contingency.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 9, 2014
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December 15, 2023
Given that Lacan was an atheist, it may seem surprising to hold in my hands a book called Theology After Lacan, but it must be remembered that these days a lack of belief in a god or gods is not a bar to studying theology. Theology, after all, is something that goes beyond gods and religion in order to touch, like philosophy, on humanity's meaning and existence in this world.
The chapters in this book approach this question in a number of different ways. One approach, for instance, is to compare Lacan to other religious thinkers and movements. The weaker chapters were those that looked at Lacan "with" Luther, Buddha, and liberation theology. I can understand the impetus between these comparisons, but I wasn't convinced: if you're not already into, say, Buddhism, these essays aren't going to convince you either.
There were other chapters in this book that were unsatisfactory for other reasons. Slavoj Žižek's opening piece on the debate over the Cogito doesn't go anywhere, as far as I could see. Adrian Johnston's long critique of Martin Hägglund's "radical atheism" was beyond my understanding, not having read Hägglund's original text. Katerina Kolozova's chapter draws extensively from Judith Butler without critical addressing some of the obvious shortcomings of her ethical approach.
For me, though, there were some fantastic essays that made this collection worth reading. The obvious stand-out was Tina Beattie's idiosyncratic analysis of the influence of Thomas Aquinas on Lacan, with constant references to "Bohemian Rhapsody." Beattie's performance is eccentric but brilliant - rather like the Queen song - although I did feel that she should have also talked a bit about the influence of Spinoza as well.
Kenneth Reinhard's essay on Lacan and political theology is also excellent. It forms a worthy piece to his contribution to The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology. Reinhard's emphasis on Lacan's theory of the neighbor is one to watch.
There were other essays with glimpses of potential (Lorenzo Chiesa on the not-all, Marcus Pound on grace, Clayton Crockett on the triumph of the ideology of religion), but Beattie's and Reinhard's chapters were the genuine highlights for me in a generally strong collection.
The chapters in this book approach this question in a number of different ways. One approach, for instance, is to compare Lacan to other religious thinkers and movements. The weaker chapters were those that looked at Lacan "with" Luther, Buddha, and liberation theology. I can understand the impetus between these comparisons, but I wasn't convinced: if you're not already into, say, Buddhism, these essays aren't going to convince you either.
There were other chapters in this book that were unsatisfactory for other reasons. Slavoj Žižek's opening piece on the debate over the Cogito doesn't go anywhere, as far as I could see. Adrian Johnston's long critique of Martin Hägglund's "radical atheism" was beyond my understanding, not having read Hägglund's original text. Katerina Kolozova's chapter draws extensively from Judith Butler without critical addressing some of the obvious shortcomings of her ethical approach.
For me, though, there were some fantastic essays that made this collection worth reading. The obvious stand-out was Tina Beattie's idiosyncratic analysis of the influence of Thomas Aquinas on Lacan, with constant references to "Bohemian Rhapsody." Beattie's performance is eccentric but brilliant - rather like the Queen song - although I did feel that she should have also talked a bit about the influence of Spinoza as well.
Kenneth Reinhard's essay on Lacan and political theology is also excellent. It forms a worthy piece to his contribution to The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology. Reinhard's emphasis on Lacan's theory of the neighbor is one to watch.
There were other essays with glimpses of potential (Lorenzo Chiesa on the not-all, Marcus Pound on grace, Clayton Crockett on the triumph of the ideology of religion), but Beattie's and Reinhard's chapters were the genuine highlights for me in a generally strong collection.
Displaying 1 of 1 review