Slavoj Žižek has been called an "academic rock star." As public visibility of the Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst increases, so too does the depth of his engagement with Christian theology. Žižek's recent work includes extended treatments of key Christian thinkers from Paul, Pascal, and Kierkegaard to G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis, while Christology and other theological themes have provided crucial points of reference. Žižek has even said that "to become a true dialectical materialist, one should go through the Christian experience." 
But Žižek's work on Christianity often overwhelms students of theology. To be sure, Žižek's style of argumentation is unusual and his concepts are complex. But the more basic problem is that his work on Christianity is a further development of a broader intellectual project established in many volumes produced in the course of the 1990s. This book will bring students of theology up to speed on this broader intellectual project, with an eye toward what brings Žižek to an explicit engagement with Christianity and how both his earlier and more recent works are relevant for theological reflection.

Zizek and Theology (Philosophy and Theology)

Religion & Spirituality

Kotsko, Adam

Religious Studies

Bloomsbury T&T Clark

Slavoj ++i++ek has been called an 'academic rock star' As public visibility of the Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst increases, so too does the depth of his engagement with Christian theology. ++i++ek's recent work includes extended treatments of key Christian thinkers from Paul, Pascal, and Kierkegaard to G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis, while Christology and other theological themes have provided crucial points of reference. ++i++ek has even said that 'to become a true dialectical materialist, one should go through the Christian experience. But ++i++ek's work on Christianity often overwhelms students of theology. To be sure, ++i++ek's style of argumentation is unusual and his concepts are complex. But the more basic problem is that the work on Christianity is a further development of a broader intellectual project established in many thick volumes produced in the course of the 1990s. This book will bring students of theology up to speed on this broader intellectual project, with an eye toward what brings him to an explicit engagement with Christianity and how both his earlier and more recent works are relevant for theological reflection.

Christian Books & Bibles

T&T Clark

The Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation

Recent decades have witnessed an explosion of new perspectives on "atonement theory" the traditional name for reflections on the meaning of Christ's work. These new theologies view Christ as a political figure and mobilize social theory to understand the contemporary context and Christ's meaning for that context. Politics of Redemption demonstrates that pre-modern theologians also understood Christ's role in a fundamentally social way. The argument proceeds byanalysingthe most important and original contributors to the tradition of atonement theory (Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, Anselm, and Abelard) The investigation reveals that they all work within a shared social-relational logic based on the solidarity of all human beings and the irreducible relatedness of humanity and the rest of creation. Having brought this social-relational logic to the surface, the work concludes by sketching out a fresh atonement theory as a way of showing that our understanding of Christ's work and of its relevance for our life together is enriched by foregrounding the question of how creation, and particularly the human social sphere, is structured.

A new theory of the atonement, showing that the Christian account of salvation can only fullymake sense if approached from a social-political angle>

The Prince of This World

The most enduring challenge to traditional monotheism is the problem of evil, which attempts to reconcile three incompatible propositions: God is all-good, God is all-powerful, and evil happens. The Prince of This World traces the story of one of the most influential attempts to square this circle: the offloading of responsibility for evil onto one of God's rebellious creatures. In this striking reexamination, the devil's story is bitterly ironic, full of tragic reversals. He emerges as a theological symbol who helps oppressed communities cope with the trauma of unjust persecution, torture, and death at the hands of political authorities and eventually becomes a vehicle to justify oppression at the hands of Christian rulers. And he evolves alongside the biblical God, who at first presents himself as the liberator of the oppressed but ends up a cruel ruler who delights in the infliction of suffering on his friends and enemies alike. In other words, this is the story of how God becomes the devil―a devil who remains with us in our ostensibly secular age.

History

World

Stanford University Press

What Is Theology?: Christian Thought and Contemporary Life (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

Review\n“How do questions of ultimacy―the familiar terrain of theology―collide with the sublunary world of striving and sorrow, of exploitation and fugitive solidarity, we have no choice but to inhabit? And how might the practices of theology and of philosophy hold space together, as both are energized by the rigor of historically-minded critique? These are the questions at the heart of Adam Kotsko’s dynamic volume What Is Theology? In its deft readings and expansive erudition, it reaches toward counterpossibilities to the racist orders of a Christianized modernity. Kotsko restores to view a theology that is human, humane: something alive to the fractures in our ailing collectivities, and aspiring toward new ones.”---Peter Coviello, author of Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism\n“Without subsuming theology within politics, Kotskocreatively demonstrates the importance of theology for political concerns.”---Elaine Padilla, University of La Verne\nThe secular world may have thought it was done with theology, but theology was not done with it. Recent decades have seen a resurgence of religion on the social and political scene, which have driven thinkers across many disciplines to grapple with the Christian theological inheritance of the modern world.\nAdam Kotsko provides a unique guide to this fraught terrain. The title essay establishes a fresh and unexpected redefinition of theology and its complex and often polemical relationship with its sister discipline of philosophy. Subsequent essays build on this framework from three different perspectives. In the first part, Kotsko demonstrates the continued vibrancy of Christian theology as a creative and constructive pursuit outside the walls of the church, showing that theological concepts can underwrite a powerful critique of the modern world. The second approaches Christian theology from the perspective of a range of contemporary philosophers, showing how philosophical thought is drawn to theology even despite itself. The concluding section is devoted to the unexpected theological roots of the modern world-system, making a case that the interplay of state and economy and the structure of modern racial oppression both build on theological patterns of thought.\nKotsko’s book ultimately shows that theology is not a scholarly game or an edifying spiritual discipline, but a world-shaping force of great power. Lives are at stake when we do theology―and if we don’t do it, someone else will.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Fordham University Press

The secular world may have thought it was done with theology, but theology was not done with it. Recent decades have seen a resurgence of religion on the social and political scene, which have driven thinkers across many disciplines to grapple with the Christian theological inheritance of the modern world. Adam Kotsko provides a unique guide to this fraught terrain. The title essay establishes a fresh and unexpected redefinition of theology and its complex and often polemical relationship with its sister discipline of philosophy. Subsequent essays build on this framework from three different perspectives. In the first part, Kotsko demonstrates the continued vibrancy of Christian theology as a creative and constructive pursuit outside the walls of the church, showing that theological concepts can underwrite a powerful critique of the modern world. The second approaches Christian theology from the perspective of a range of contemporary philosophers, showing how philosophical thought is drawn to theology even despite itself. The concluding section is devoted to the unexpected theological roots of the modern world-system, making a case that the interplay of state and economy and the structure of modern racial oppression both build on theological patterns of thought. Kotsko's book ultimately shows that theology is not a scholarly game or an edifying spiritual discipline, but a world-shaping force of great power. Lives are at stake when we do theology--and if we don't do it, someone else will.

Agamben's Philosophical Trajectory

Giorgio Agamben has emerged as one of the most perceptive and even prophetic political thinkers of his era. Now that he has completed his career-defining work – the multivolume Homo Sacer series – Adam Kotsko, one of his leading translators, shows how his political concerns emerged and evolved as Agamben responded to contemporary events and new intellectual influences while striving to remain true to his deepest intuitions. 
Kotsko reveals the trajectory of Agamben’s work and shows us what it means to practice philosophy as a living, responsive discipline.

Edinburgh University Press

Giorgio Agamben has emerged as one of the most perceptive and even prophetic political thinkers of his era. Now that he has completed his career-defining work - the multivolume Homo Sacer series - Adam Kotsko, one of his leading translators, shows how his political concerns emerged and evolved as Agamben responded to contemporary events and new intellectual influences while striving to remain true to his deepest intuitions. Kotsko reveals the trajectory of Agamben's work and shows us what it means to practice philosophy as a living, responsive discipline.

The most enduring challenge to traditional monotheism is the problem of evil, which attempts to reconcile three incompatible propositions: God is all-good, God is all-powerful, and evil happens. The Prince of This World traces the story of one of the most influential attempts to square this circle: the offloading of responsibility for evil onto one of God's rebellious creatures. In this striking reexamination, the devil's story is bitterly ironic, full of tragic reversals. He emerges as a theological symbol who helps oppressed communities cope with the trauma of unjust persecution, torture, and death at the hands of political authorities and eventually becomes a vehicle to justify oppression at the hands of Christian rulers. And he evolves alongside the biblical God, who at first presents himself as the liberator of the oppressed but ends up a cruel ruler who delights in the infliction of suffering on his friends and enemies alike. In other words, this is the story of how God becomes the devil―a devil who remains with us in our ostensibly secular age.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kotsko, Adam. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kotsko, Adam

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kotsko, Adam. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Zizek and Theology (Philosophy and Theology)

Zizek and Theology (Philosophy and Theology)

The Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation

The Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation

The Prince of This World

What Is Theology?: Christian Thought and Contemporary Life (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

What Is Theology?: Christian Thought and Contemporary Life (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

Agamben's Philosophical Trajectory

Agamben's Philosophical Trajectory

The Prince of This World