Criticism of Heaven: On Marxism and TheologyThis volume consists of a critical commentary on the interactions between Marxism and theology in the work of the major figures of Western Marxism. It deals with the theological writings of Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Louis Althusser, Henri Lefebvre, Antonio Gramsci, Terry Eagleton, Slavoj Zižek and Theodor Adorno. In many cases their theological writings are dealt with for the first time in this book. It is surprising how much theological material there is and how little commentators have dealt with it. Apart from the critical engagement with the way they use theology, the book also explores how their theological writings infiltrate and enrich their Marxist work. The book has three parts: Biblical Marxists (Bloch and Benjamin), Catholic Marxists (Althusser, Lefebvre, Gramsci and Eagleton), and the Protestant Turn (Zižek and Adorno). |
Contents
Chapter One Blochs Detective Work | 1 |
Chapter Two Benjamins Perpetuation of Biblical Myth | 57 |
Chapter Three The Ecclesiastical Eloquence of Louis Althusser | 107 |
Chapter Four The Heresies of Henri Lefebvre | 163 |
Chapter Five The Ecumenism of Antonio Gramsci | 215 |
Chapter Six The Apostasy of Terry Eagleton | 275 |
Chapter Seven The Conversion of Slavoj Žižek | 335 |
Chapter Eight Adornos Vacillation | 391 |
Conclusion | 447 |
| 453 | |
| 463 | |
| 465 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Adorno alienation allegory Althusser 1994a Althusser's argue argument Atheism Badiou becomes Benjamin 1999a biblical criticism Bloch capitalism Catholic Action Catholicism Christ christology clergy communist concerned creation critique crucial cultural death dialectical discussion doctrine Eagleton 2003b earlier ecclesiology ecumenical effort emerges eschatology Eschaton especially essay ethics eucharist evil fact faith Genesis God's grace Gramsci Hebrew Bible Hegel human ideology intellectuals interest Jesus Kierkegaard Lacan Lacanian language Lefebvre Lefebvre's liberal liberation theology logic Marx Marxism materialist means move myth mythical namely narrative nature Navarrenx notion paradox Passagenarbeit Paul philosophy political position possibility precisely problem Protestant Protestant Reformation psychoanalysis question radical reading realm redemption Reformation reification religion religious revolutionary Roman Roman-Catholic Church salvation secularised theology seeks seems Slavoj Žižek social specifically theory thought tion transcendence truth-event utopian Volume 14 words writes Yahweh Žižek