Giving birth to the impossible: theology and deconstruction in Johannes Climacus’s Philosophical Fragments

According to Roger Poole, theological interpreters of Søren Kierkegaard’s indirect communication privilege content over form, whereas deconstructive interpreters privilege form over content. Here, I offer a reading of Johannes Climacus’s Philosophical Fragments to illustrate how, in this case, the t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of philosophy and theology
Main Author: Middleton, Timothy A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2021
In: International journal of philosophy and theology
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Kierkegaard, Søren 1813-1855, Philosophiske smuler / Deconstruction / Incarnation
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
NBF Christology
Further subjects:B Deconstruction
B Philosophical Fragments
B Kierkegaard
B Climacus
B Derrida
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:According to Roger Poole, theological interpreters of Søren Kierkegaard’s indirect communication privilege content over form, whereas deconstructive interpreters privilege form over content. Here, I offer a reading of Johannes Climacus’s Philosophical Fragments to illustrate how, in this case, the theology/deconstruction and form/content binaries both break down. The form of Fragments is as theological as it is deconstructive: Climacus’s kaleidoscopic quotation of scripture, and his parabolic tropes both attest to this. Similarly, the content of Fragments is as deconstructive as it is theological: the deferral of names, the madness of the moment of decision, and Climacus’s use of contradiction all unsettle any naïve theology. Ultimately, I suggest, the reason that Fragments resists the form/content and theology/deconstruction binaries is because it is a text about the incarnation – a paradigmatic combination of form and content, and a paradoxical reality that bursts apart any division between theology and deconstruction.
ISSN:2169-2335
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal of philosophy and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/21692327.2021.1923557