Deconstructing Undecidability: Derrida, Justice, and Religious Discourse

Author:   Michael Oliver
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN:  

9781978704381


Pages:   256
Publication Date:   06 February 2020
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Our Price $253.00 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Deconstructing Undecidability: Derrida, Justice, and Religious Discourse


Add your own review!

Overview

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Oliver
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
Imprint:   Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 16.20cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.10cm
Weight:   0.558kg
ISBN:  

9781978704381


ISBN 10:   1978704380
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   06 February 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction: How to Avoid Decision: Denials Part One: Deconstructing Undecidability Chapter One: Religion sans Exclusivity, Perhaps Chapter Two: Rereading Undecidability: An Appreciation for the Aporetic Double-Bind Part Two: Justifying Decisions Chapter Three: The Injustice of Exclusivity Chapter Four: The Injustice of Indecision Part Three: Deconstructing Divine Undecidability Chapter Five: Un/Avoidable Divine Decision Chapter Six: Un/Avoidable Human Decisions about Divine Decision Conclusion: The Decision-Maker that Therefore I am

Reviews

The tension in choosing one line of justice at the expense of another cannot be resolved. Indecision remains an illusion; we must decide. However, not without considering the larger context and its measure of power and privilege. This well-written and engaging study encourages the reader to face the challenge of deciding amidst competing calls for immediate and just attention.--Werner G. Jeanrond, University of Oslo At last, a that offers a new way of working with Derrida's philosophy as it fronts on religion! It's edgy. It's controversial. It's contemporary. Here is a new theological voice that pushes both deconstruction and indecidability into original theological territories. New debates on familiar themes are opened with sparkling and generative insights. The book is needed and it's welcome.--Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford Anyone beset by the devils of indecision will find needed wisdom in Michael Oliver's courageous investigation of the pitfalls of any presumptive inclusivism. He cuts--with disarming panache--to the ethical quick: where not to decide may prove as conceptually and ethically irresponsible as the feared exclusion.--Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew University This book offers a welcome contribution to the literature on Derrida and religion. Where some interpreters associate deconstruction with an indeterminate openness, Michael Oliver shows that Derrida sees the act of decision as problematic but unavoidable. Drawing on Derrida, Oliver argues that theological debates over liberation and divine election must reckon with the need for discernment. With sensitivity and insight, Oliver offers an account of the struggle for justice that attends to its persistent ambiguity.--David Newheiser, Australian Catholic University Michael Oliver examines the power of the theme of exclusion in determining the critical analyses and constructive remedies of certain progressive theologies--most specifically, postmodern and liberationist--alongside the theme's slippery, challenging complexity. He exposes a deconstructive-like double bind: the tendency to isolate and demonize exclusion as the source of all bad religion, theology, and ethics and the simultaneous inability to provide a theo-ethical remedy that does not itself participate in some form of exclusion. In doing so, Oliver brings to light a difficult truth that has not always been sufficiently addressed in our best progressive theologies, thereby offering progressive theologies an invitation to be more self-aware, transparent, and self-critical, toward the hoped for outcome of becoming even more viable and more compelling.--Chris Boesel, Drew University


At last, a book that offers a new way of working with Derrida's philosophy as it fronts on religion! It's edgy. It's controversial. It's contemporary. Here is a new theological voice that pushes both deconstruction and indecidability into original theological territories. New debates on familiar themes are opened with sparkling and generative insights. The book is needed and it's welcome.--Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford Michael Oliver examines the power of the theme of exclusion in determining the critical analyses and constructive remedies of certain progressive theologies--most specifically, postmodern and liberationist--alongside the theme's slippery, challenging complexity. He exposes a deconstructive-like double bind: the tendency to isolate and demonize exclusion as the source of all bad religion, theology, and ethics and the simultaneous inability to provide a theo-ethical remedy that does not itself participate in some form of exclusion. In doing so, Oliver brings to light a difficult truth that has not always been sufficiently addressed in our best progressive theologies, thereby offering progressive theologies an invitation to be more self-aware, transparent, and self-critical, toward the hoped for outcome of becoming even more viable and more compelling.--Chris Boesel, Drew University This book offers a welcome contribution to the literature on Derrida and religion. Where some interpreters associate deconstruction with an indeterminate openness, Michael Oliver shows that Derrida sees the act of decision as problematic but unavoidable. Drawing on Derrida, Oliver argues that theological debates over liberation and divine election must reckon with the need for discernment. With sensitivity and insight, Oliver offers an account of the struggle for justice that attends to its persistent ambiguity.--David Newheiser, Australian Catholic University Anyone beset by the devils of indecision will find needed wisdom in Michael Oliver's courageous investigation of the pitfalls of any presumptive inclusivism. He cuts--with disarming panache--to the ethical quick: where not to decide may prove as conceptually and ethically irresponsible as the feared exclusion.--Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew University The tension in choosing one line of justice at the expense of another cannot be resolved. Indecision remains an illusion; we must decide. However, not without considering the larger context and its measure of power and privilege. This well-written and engaging study encourages the reader to face the challenge of deciding amidst competing calls for immediate and just attention.--Werner G. Jeanrond, University of Oslo


At last, a that offers a new way of working with Derrida's philosophy as it fronts on religion! It's edgy. It's controversial. It's contemporary. Here is a new theological voice that pushes both deconstruction and indecidability into original theological territories. New debates on familiar themes are opened with sparkling and generative insights. The book is needed and it's welcome.--Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford The tension in choosing one line of justice at the expense of another cannot be resolved. Indecision remains an illusion; we must decide. However, not without considering the larger context and its measure of power and privilege. This well-written and engaging study encourages the reader to face the challenge of deciding amidst competing calls for immediate and just attention.--Werner G. Jeanrond, University of Oslo This book offers a welcome contribution to the literature on Derrida and religion. Where some interpreters associate deconstruction with an indeterminate openness, Michael Oliver shows that Derrida sees the act of decision as problematic but unavoidable. Drawing on Derrida, Oliver argues that theological debates over liberation and divine election must reckon with the need for discernment. With sensitivity and insight, Oliver offers an account of the struggle for justice that is sensitive to the persistence of ambiguity.--David Newheiser, Australian Catholic University Anyone beset by the devils of indecision will find needed wisdom in Michael Oliver's courageous investigation of the pitfalls of any presumptive inclusivism. He cuts--with disarming panache--to the ethical quick: where not to decide may prove as conceptually and ethically irresponsible as the feared exclusion.--Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew University


Author Information

Michael Oliver is a departmental lecturer in the faculty of theology and religion at the University of Oxford.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

MRG2025CC

 

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List