On Religion (Thinking in Action) [Paperback]

John Caputo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 041523333X | ISBN-13: 978-0415233330 | Publication Date: May 25, 2001

John D. Caputo explores the very roots of religious thinking in this thought-provoking book. Compelling questions come up along the way: 'What do I love when I love my God?' and 'What can Star Wars tell us about the contemporary use of religion?' (are we always trying to find a way of saying 'God be with you'?) Why is religion for many a source of moral guidance in a postmodern, nihilistic age? Is it possible to have 'religion without religion'?
Drawing on contemporary images of religion, such as Robert Duvall's film The Apostle, Caputo also provides some fascinating and imaginative insights into religious fundamentalism.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's conventional wisdom not to bring up religion in casual conversation. The subject tends to polarize people into believers and skeptics. While one camp adduces little more than personal experience in support of their claims, the other is unwilling to admit much beyond the revelations of science. Neither is a satisfactory alternative for Caputo, who infuses his meditations in On Religion with ambiguity, uncertainty, and hopefulness. Caputo's book is not the fodder of tired collegiate debates. That is, it is neither a pro forma defense of religious belief nor a proof that God is not possible. It is a slender volume that is full of insights and an occasional touch of the profound.

Listen: "Religion is for lovers, for men and women of passion, for real people who believe in something, who hope like mad in something, who believe in something, who love something with a love that surpasses understanding." It's no wonder Caputo has carved out a niche for himself as one of the most sincere and thoughtful writers in today's continental philosophy. Among elitist thinkers who seem to pride themselves on jargon and labyrinthine writing, Caputo is a refreshing complement, refusing to believe that intellectual substance is at odds with clarity. His predilection for ethics and religion is manifest in his half dozen or so books on the subjects. On Religion, part of the Thinking in Action series, does justice to his depth. --Eric de Place

From Library Journal

Caputo (Radical Hermeneutics; philosophy, Villanova Univ.) claims that religion is not for the faint of heart. The radical instability of a life filled with faith and hope is transformational in the extreme, he cautions: "If safe is what you want, forget religion and find yourself a conservative investment counselor." Caputo writes with the immediacy and conviction of one who can fully understand his topic only by immersing himself in it. Intellectual without being overly academic, he considers ideas such as what it means to have a loving God, what is "religion without religion," and how the postmodern returns to religion by positing a "reality" beyond the real. When he writes that claims to religious truth are only interpretation at best and that humility should lead the way, one cheers his vigor and relishes his insights into the paradoxical, ambiguous nature of religion and religious belief. Recommended. Sandra Collins, Duquesne Univ. Lib., Pittsburgh
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 147 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (May 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041523333X
• ISBN-13: 978-0415233330
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John D. Caputo, the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion (Syracuse 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 in 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 specializes 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book demonstrates thinking in action, January 14, 2003

By 

P. Rollins "WanderingStar" (Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Religion (Thinking in Action) (Paperback)

Brilliant. Well written, informative, passionate. It is refreshing to see a philosopher who writes with the fervour of Kierkegaard, someone who is in the academic world not because they wish to further their own name but because they are driven by the questions that ought to keep us all up at night. This book is brilliantly paced and achieves the almost impossible task of making Derrida understandable. In the spirit of C.S. Lewis, John Caputo offers us a first-rate body of thought in a way that is well written and understandable to those outside the academic ivory tower. In the introduction to this book, Caputo makes the convincing claim that when it comes to religion there is no absolute beginning, however if you are looking for an introduction to religion from a continental philosophical viewpoint then this is a close to an absolute beginning as you are likely to get.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doing the impossible, December 1, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: On Religion (Thinking in Action) (Paperback)

I've just finished reading On Religion and thought I'd make use of cyberspace to say how much I enjoyed it. I continue to be part of a formal religion (Christian/Anglican) but constantly wonder why; frustrated and angered by blinkered thinking and knowing that I do not believe-as-fact most (any?) of the 'doctrine'. And yet, and yet.....I know it gives shape to
something which is somehow fundamental to existence. My normal reaction to this chronic uncertainty is anxiety, so I found Caputo's idea that the very impossibility of knowing is something to be passionate about a really inspiring one. Worrying about the love of God makes it impossible to do the love of God.

And it was very good to read a book on religion which flew along, was full of passion and made me laugh.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Do I Love When I Love My God?, May 2, 2007

By 

Etienne ROLLAND-PIEGUE (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On Religion (Thinking in Action) (Paperback)

I wish Amazon had a search engine that would automatically redirect the general reader interested in religion to this book. Not the graduate student who nods intelligently to the puns made by French philosophers in their original language, not the tenured professor who ponders whether she should include this reference in her class reading list, but the plain, average reader who doesn't know much about philosophy but who likes inspirational lectures dedicated to lifting his or her spirit out of the ordinary.

Such a reader may be puzzled at first with the author's peculiar sense of humor. For John Caputo, people of the impossible, as he defines religious people, are also impossible people: "A good part of the problem with religion is religious people (without them, religion's record would be unblemished)". His religion borders on the atheistic, and he finds as much inspiration in a Star Wars episode as in Luke or Matthew. But his love of God is sincere when he echoes the prayers and tears of St. Augustine or records the story of the annunciation to the Blessed Virgin--who actually spoke French, we learn incidentally.

Actually, readers will find many sentences that would fit in a Sunday predication or an Evangelist's bestseller. "We are not supposed to earn a comfortable living off the Crucifixion, we are supposed to be crucified to the world." "God cannot simply spend six days creating the world and then throw the tools on the truck and drive off for a long week-end. We require God to be on the job around the clock." "When the love of God calls, we had better answer". "Religion is for lovers, for men and women of passion, for real people with a passion for something other than making profit." Even the parts that deal with deep philosophical issues are presented in a humorous and accessible manner ("There is no way to know The Way, no way that I know, anyway").

Readers may or may not agree with the precepts of a "religion without religion" that the author spells out at the end. Nor is his attack on established churches bound to earn him much support among the parish folks. But it is not so common to find a book that is at the same time inspirational and challenging, full of enthusiasm and slightly agnostic, easy to read without being an insult to the reader's intelligence.