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- Title
Universalism and Community: Badiou, Žižek and Nietzsche's Thinking on Christianity.
- Authors
Hwang, Jung-A.
- Abstract
It seems that religion once again claims central status in political arena these days. As a theoretical response to the reemergence of religion, Badiou and Žižek turn to Christianity and find a singular and alternative form of universalism through a reinterpretation of Christian discourse, especially of St. Paul's. They believe that this Christian universalism enables us to properly cope with the problem of community. In his book St. Paul, Badiou argues that Paul established universalism by disconnecting Christianity from its origin, i.e. Judaic community and by persisting with entirely indifferent attitudes towards any matters related to communities. Žižek goes one step further and asserts that the universalist disconnection or 'unplugging' from one's community is a truly subversive social practice. Using the traditional dichotomy of 'Love' and 'Law', he remarks that 'Love' as a universalist principle completely annuls disavowed but indispensable 'supplements' to law and thus undermines the given order of things. What forms an important theoretical background for Badiou and Žižek's arguments is Nietzsche's famous critique of Christianity. They attempt, on the one hand, to correct Nietzsche's 'misunderstanding' of Christianity brought on by his 'particularism' and, on the other hand, to develop the concept of Christian universalism based on Nietzsche's relatively positive descriptions regarding Jesus' complete disengagement from 'actuality'. In this regard, Nietzsche's critique provides a useful point of reference with which to make critical assessment of Badiou and Žižek's thoughts on universalism and community.
- Subjects
RELIGION &; politics; CHURCH &; politics; UNIVERSALISM (Theology); PARTICULARISM (Theology); POLITICAL science; THEOLOGY; JUDAISM &; culture; PAUL, the Apostle, Saint; NIETZSCHE, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900
- Publication
International Journal of Zizek Studies, 2009, Vol 3, Issue 2, p1
- ISSN
1751-8229
- Publication type
Article