Linguistic Interval as Spiritual Interplay: Przywara's “Dynamic Polarity” and Christian Language

This article aims to reflect on how Erich Przywara's concept of the analogical “dynamic polarity” can contribute to contemporary discussions regarding the role of language in postmodern theology. By opposing Przywara to the philosophies of the likes of John Caputo and Jacques Derrida—in particu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bickersteth, Samuel (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2024
In: Modern theology
Year: 2024, Volume: 40, Issue: 3, Pages: 551-571
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Przywara, Erich 1889-1972 / Derrida, Jacques 1930-2004 / Caputo, John D. 1940- / Language / Polarity / Greek language / Noun / Chōra / Prayer
RelBib Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
TK Recent history
VA Philosophy
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Summary:This article aims to reflect on how Erich Przywara's concept of the analogical “dynamic polarity” can contribute to contemporary discussions regarding the role of language in postmodern theology. By opposing Przywara to the philosophies of the likes of John Caputo and Jacques Derrida—in particular their concept of the khôra, and the former's “weak theology” —it intends to elucidate the possibility of an approach to language which remains in keeping with the Christian theological (and thus metaphysical) tradition whilst also engaging with standard postmodern criticisms typically leveled at it. Beginning with a prefatory examination of the themes of presence, absence, and distance as they appear in Christian theology and postmodernism, it then examines how the dynamic polarity may play a conciliatory role in harmonizing the two. It then continues to employ the dynamic polarity as a basis for various forms of language, arguing that it reveals an inherently relational, dialogic, and ultimately prayerful structure of receptivity, one which constitutes and emboldens difference, enlivening it as the theatre for a fruitful analogical interplay between self and other, cataphatic and apophatic, and more.
ISSN:1468-0025
Contains:Enthalten in: Modern theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/moth.12895