Philosophy and Theology (Horizons in Theology) [Paperback]

John Caputo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006 | Series: Horizons in Theology

A highly engaging essay that will draw students into a conversation about the vital relationship between philosophy and theology.

In this clear, concise, and brilliantly engaging essay, renowned philosopher and theologian John D. Caputo addresses the great and classical philosophical questions as they inextricably intersect with theology--past, present, and future. Recognized as one of the leading philosophers, Caputo is peerless in introducing and initiating students into the vital relationship that philosophy and theology share together. He writes, “If you take a long enough look, beyond the debates that divide philosophy and theology, over the walls that they have built to keep each other out or beyond the wars to subordinate one to the other, you find a common sense of awe, a common gasp of surprise or astonishment, like looking out at the endless sprawl of stars across the evening sky or upon the waves of a midnight sea.”

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687331269
• ISBN-13: 978-0687331260
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.2 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John D. Caputo, the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion Emeritus (Syracuse University) and the David R. Cook Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Villanova University) is a hybrid philosopher/theologian who works in the area of radical theology. Prof. Caputo is working on a theory of "theo-poetics," by which he means a poetics of the "event" harbored in the name of God, a notion that depends upon a reworking of the notions of event in Derrida and Deleuze. His past books have attempted to persuade us that hermeneutics goes all the way down ("Radical Hermeneutics"), that Derrida is a thinker to be reckoned with by theology ("The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida"), and that theology is best served by getting over its love affair with power and authority and embracing what Caputo calls, following St. Paul, "The Weakness of God." His notion of the weakness of God, an expression that needs to be interpreted carefully by following what he means by "event," is reducible neither to an orthodox notion of kenosis nor to a death of God theology (Altizer, Zizek), although it bears comparison to both. He has also addressed wider-than-academic audiences in "On Religion," "Philosophy and Theology," and "What Would Jesus Deconstruct?" and has an interest in interacting with working church groups like Ikon and the Emergent Church. He is currently working on a book entitled "The Insistence of God," a sequel to "The Weakness of God," and a book on the weakness of our frail and mortal flesh, probably to be entitled "The Fate of all Flesh: A Theology of the Event, II." At Syracuse, Professor Caputo specialized in continental philosophy of religion, which means both working on radical approaches to religion and theology in the light of contemporary phenomenology, hermeneutics and deconstruction, and tracking down the traces of radical religious and theological motifs in contemporary continental philosophy.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Prelude To An Anti-Climactic Conclusion October 6, 2009

By Irfan A. Alvi TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a short book of about 80 pages, divided into eight chapters. The aim of the author, John Caputo, is to propose a vision of how (Western) philosophical theology might look in our postmodern era.

The first six chapters go by quickly and enjoyably, mainly because Caputo is a masterful writer, about as good as any I've run across so far. He speaks with conversational directness and clarity while also maintaining philosophical rigor and precision. The key ideas I gleaned from these six chapters are as follows:

(1) Philosophy and theology are kindred quests because they're both concerned with the big questions, even if they (purportedly) come from different angles.

(2) In the premodern era, (religious) faith dominated reason, but there was still meaningful interaction between the two.

(3) During the modern era, reason became dominant and faith went into defensive retreat. Science likewise gradually managed to marginalize both philosophy and religion. Descartes delimited God to what can be understood through reason. Kant likewise limited our understanding to a rational natural and moral order, dismissing any other ideas about God as superstition. Hegel added a historical dimension, but still centered his model on reason.

(4) The Romantics reacted to Enlightenment rationalism and scientism by attacking its austere incompleteness. Kierkegaard asserted that rationalism can never catch up with faith.

(5) Postmodernism challenged the hegemony of reason and science by noting that all reasoning and even perception involves using a perspective (language game, paradigm, etc.), and that requires tacitly accepting all the presuppositions built into the perspective. As a result, infallible "Truth" is unattainable and faith is unavoidable. This situation evokes incredulity towards meta-narratives and steers us to instead accept and appreciate details, differences, history, multiplicity, complexity, etc.

(6) In the postmodern era, each religion involves a perspective which is irreducible to any other perspective, and so it must largely be understood on its own terms, rather than according to the dictates of rationalism or science.

All of this seems reasonable to me and, again, Caputo lays all of this out in beautiful prose. This prelude thus sets the stage nicely for what I hoped would be an innovative and compelling postmodern integration of philosophy and theology in the final two chapters, using Derrida and Augustine as representatives of each camp. To present his vision, Caputo's tone shifts in these last two chapters, becoming more poetic and thus appealing largely to our aesthetic judgment rather than our critical faculties. The chapters are short, so Caputo offers only a preliminary sketch rather than a detailed portrait. Let me try to present a miniature version of his sketch, effectively a sketch of a sketch:
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Augustine and Derrida are both involved in a restless search from which they can't escape, and perhaps they don't really want to, even though there's plenty of suffering along the way. Augustine's search leads him to a love of God, but he must still struggle to answer the question "What do I love when I love God?", so his search never really ends. Derrida is unable to give the name "God" to the object of his search, so his search is more indeterminate than Augustine's, but the fact that Derrida relentlessly continues to search reveals that he's also motivated by a kind of faith and hope, and maybe even love. While these mutual searches are full of ambiguity and thus disorienting, the consolation prize is that they at least generate passion for life, which thereby elevates us above the superficial and mediocre and gives life a kind of meaning (this reminds me of Nietzsche in some ways).
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I think Caputo makes some good points here, but I generally find his juxtaposition of premodern religion and postmodern philosophy to be somewhat anti-climactic and thus disappointing. Part of the problem is surely that he just hasn't provided sufficient richness of detail. But even if he fleshes out his vision, I wonder if he's on the right track in emphasizing passion for life as a sufficient consolation for the ambiguities and suffering entailed in wrestling with the big questions. I'm not so sure, but you can judge for yourself ...

The first six chapters of this book easily warrant 5 stars, but the culminating two chapters are closer to 3 stars, so I think 4 stars overall is fair. Regarding whether I recommend this book, that's hard to say, since I loved most of the book, but then finished it feeling somewhat disappointed. Perhaps the book will work for if you expect only a starting point for looking at philosophy and theology in a new way.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent and Beautiful Little Book September 11, 2006

By Tony Jones

Format:Paperback

Imagine a book in which Augustine of Hippo and Jaques Derrida are co-cupids, each aiming their arrows at your heart. Only in the hands of Jack Caputo would this be imaginable. This is a lyrical, incredible, impossible gem of a book. Caputo sings, preaches, waxes philosophic and theologic, and ultimately brings us to in the presence of two giants -- Augustine and Derrida -- each at prayer; what surprises us is that they're praying together. And, if we read carefully, we'll see that this little book is, in fact, Caputo's own prayer. I will read this volume many times.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful Resource March 7, 2007

By Zach T. Roberts

Format:Paperback

Caputo takes the reader on a brief historical journey of the relationship between philosophy and theology. The reader moves from the pre-modern, to the modern, and then to the post modern interaction between these two disciplines.

The conversation certainly is not over at the end of the book. The postmodern relationship between philosophy and theology is in the early stages of being mined for all that is has to offer. This book is a welcome encouragement for those who are not afraid of what that may bring for people of faith and for those outside of the church.