Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek makes an audacious defence of Christianity - since he is an atheist! He argues that the core radicalism of Christianity is sorely needed in the Europe of today to overcome violent tribalisms. He seems to get how perverse Christianity is.
‘…it is love itself that enjoins us to ‘unplug’ from the organic community into which we were born – or, as Paul puts it, for a Christian, there are neither men nor women, neither Jews nor Greeks…No wonder that, for those fully identified with the Jewish ‘national substance’, as well as for the Greek philosophers and the proponents of the global Roman Empire, the appearance of Christ was a ridiculous and/or traumatic scandal.’
The unplugging of the Christian (and her ‘replugging’ into the community of the Spirit) diminishes the demand of duty to the ‘natural’ communities to which she belongs – to the bewilderment of the natural community were such demands are absolute.
Slavoj Žižek, The Fragile Absolute - or, Why Is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For? ed. Slavoj Žižek, Wo Es War (London; New York: Verso, 2000), p. 121
1 comment:
As I said on your other Žižek post, this is my favourite quote from the man. Matheson is really into him (or used to be) - is he still reading this blog, or do your personal conversations satiate his appetite?
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