Between Faith and Belief

Joeri Schrijvers is Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He is the author of Ontotheological Turnings? The Decentering of the Modern Subject in Recent French Phenomenology, also published by SUNY Press.

"…Between Faith and Belief is a book well worth reading and pondering over, regardless of where you fit on the spectrum of metaphysical and post-metaphysical thinking. Some may find his reading of Nancy to be too narrow, or perhaps think his critique of Caputo too quickly dismisses the important concepts Caputo builds through a 'religion without a religion' and his use of deconstruction. Regardless, they will find in this work, at the very least, a good sparring partner." — International Journal of Philosophical Studies"This book is a reliable guide to a series of ongoing debates in Continental thought that have seemed for some time to be at an impasse … Schrijvers' fine work navigates this impasse with precision and fairness, and thereby gives us a path forward for maintaining embodied religious practice in our world today." — Horizons"This is a necessary, timely and excellent contribution in the field of philosophy of religion." — South African Journal of Philosophy"…well written and thought provoking. [Schrijvers] has written an important work tracing the influences and developments of a group of contemporary thinkers and their position on whether ontology can be understood without a theological origin." — Phenomenological Reviews"This is an enchanting study … Most originally and thoroughly, Schrijvers turns philosophy into love … an intriguing introduction into contemporary thought." — Modern Theology"...a richly intricate and rewarding book." — International Journal of Philosophy and Theology"...a helpful foundation for future works about faith and belief or contemporary phenomenologies of religious life." — Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory"Joeri Schrijvers's book is a tour de force, ranging over a wide spectrum of contemporary thinkers in order to negotiate the distance between religion and religionlessness, God and Godlessness, ontotheology and its overcoming. The result is a nuanced and careful study that repays close study." — John D. Caputo, Syracuse University"Among the many lusters of Joeri Schrijvers's Between Faith and Belief is a beautiful recovery of Ludwig Binswanger's phenomenology of love. Discussion of postmetaphysical theology is arid without philosophically informed and creative talk of love, and Binswanger's is a voice that has been missing from the conversation for far too long. To put Binswanger into dialogue with Caputo and Nancy, in particular, is at once fascinating and nourishing." — Kevin Hart, University of Virginia

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionGeneral Introduction: Toward A Contemporary Phenomenology of Religious Life: Contours and ContextsThe Many Faces of Atheism Today "Against the Return of Religion: A Critique of the Religious Origins of our Political Concepts"Jean-Luc Nancy and Peter Sloterdijk"A Universalizing Faith at the Origin of the Social Bond: Postsecularism As a Secularizing Task"Ludwig Binswanger"A Recognition of the Elementary Faith Underlying the Secularizing Task"John D. CaputoConclusion: Toward A Contemporary Phenomenology of Religious LifePart I. Without1. Anarchistic Tendencies in Contemporary Philosophy: Reiner Schürmann and the Hubris of Philosophy"What is to be done at the end of metaphysics?"Heideggerian AnarchyLevinasian AnarchyDerridean AnarchyConclusion: In Praise of Everydayness2. What Comes after Christianity? Jean-Luc Nancy’s Deconstruction of ChristianityThe End of Metaphysics and the Deconstruction of ChristianityThinking the World: Between Heidegger and LevinasThe Deconstruction of ChristianityNancy’s Exegesis of the Resurrection Story: Noli me Tangere and the Faith in SenseDeconstructing Nancy with DerridaConclusion: What Comes after Christianity?3. Exercises in Religion I: Peter Sloterdijk and the Matrix of MonotheismHow to Change Your Life: An Ontological Self-Help GroupOnce Again: Violence and MetaphysicsThe De-suprematicization of the World: The Matrix of MonotheismAn Exhausted Matrix?Conclusion: Sloterdijk and "The Legitimacy of Postmodernity"4. Exercises in Religion II. Living with ExhaustionModernity and the Emergence into HistoryPostmodern Life: Ascetic, Aesthetic, and Athletic ReligionLife, and Nothing but Life: The Liberation from the Matrix?Changing CodesConclusion: Deconstructing Christianity?Conclusion to Part 1Part II. Between5. In Defense of Deconstruction. John D. Caputo and His CriticsHow (Not) to Do Away With "The With"?Religion without Religion versus Religion with ReligionMind the Gap! Of Unconditionals and Their ConditionConclusion: Begging to Differ6. Between Faith and Belief: Derrida versus CaputoThe Event of ReligionPrayers, Tears, and Gnashing of Teeth: On Attempting to be an AtheistDerrida as Natural Metaphysician: The Pervertibility of Pure FaithThe Aporia, and the Great Unknown: GodConclusion: Between Faith and Belief7. Between Strong and Weak Theology: Of a Sacred Anarchy in Caputo and MarionA Christian Reversal of ValuesA Sacred Anarchy, or the Authority of AuthoritiesFrom Caputo to Marion: Abandoned to Love?Conclusion: Between Phenomenology and TheologyConclusion to Part 2Facere Veritatem: The Primacy of Bad ConscienceNot Yet Rid of God? Of a Religion Not Quite without ReligionPart III. Within8. Ludwig Binswanger’s Phenomenology of LoveGreetings from BeingPhenomenology of LoveToward an Ontology Incarnate: The Fullness of BeingConclusion: Faith in Love9. The "Ends" of Love: Friendship, Death, and CareHeidegger and BinswangerThe "Unfolding" of Love in the World: Toward a Liebende Sorge Love, Language, and CommunityPhenomenology of Friendshipâ"The Death of Friends and LoversThe Self between Love and WorldConclusion: Loving Life and Living Love10. From Love to Life (and Back Again)The Knowledge of LoveBody and World: Onward and UpwardThe Art of a Difficult Existence: Binswanger’s Ibsen Binswanger, Art, and the Phenomenology of Religious LifeConclusion: From a Finite Life to the Infinity of LoveConclusion to Part 3General ConclusionPhenomenology of Religious LifeA Phenomenology of Religious Life NotesBibliographyIndex