2004
Volume 30, Issue 2-3
  • ISSN: 1384-5829
  • E-ISSN: 2352-118X

Abstract

Abstract

The impasse of modern literature about the writing of poetry after Auschwitz (Adorno) has a counterpart in theology. How can one speak of God after Auschwitz and after the death of God (Hegel, Nietzsche)? The contemporary American philosopher John D. Caputo does not see this impasse as the end of theology, but rather as the possibility of a new beginning. Inspired by hermeneutics, phenomenology, and especially Derrida’s deconstruction, he developed a radical hermeneutics and a radical theology that seeks to replace logic with a poetic discourse. Theo-logy becomes theo-poetics. This article examines Caputo’s theopoetics in relation to (postmodern) literary studies, asking how his theopoetics challenges our way of reading texts. The article begins by discussing the background and content of Caputo’s theopoetics. God is the name of an event that breaks through reality and calls us. The call of the event has a transforming effect when we respond. The article then asks what Caputo’s thoughts on the event, the call, and transformation can mean for our perspective on literature. Can we also discern the event in literary texts? This is illustrated by a case study in which the poetry of Emily Dickinson is read from the perspective of Caputo’s theopoetics.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/NEDLET2025.2-3.005.WOLS
2025-12-01
2026-03-05
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Barnard, Marcel & Stoker, Wessel (red.), God in de hedendaagse kunst. Soest, Boekscout, 2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Benjamins, Rick, Een en ander. De traditie van de moderne theologie. Kampen, Kok, 2008.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Benjamins, Rick, ‘The Postsecular and Systematic Theology: Reflections on Kearney and Nancy’, in: International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, 76, 2, 2015, 116-128. doi:10.1080/21692327.2015.1067828.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Benjamins, Rick, Boven is onder ons. Denken over God na God. Middelburg, Skandalon, 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Boscaljon, Daniel, ‘Agnostic Theology’, in: C.D.Rodkey & J.E.Miller (red.), The Palgrave Handbookof Radical Theology. Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, 499-510. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96595-6_31.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Brinkman, Martien E., Dichtbij het onuitsprekelijke. Veertien dichters over het onzegbare. Utrecht, Meinema, 2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Caputo, John D., Radical Hermeneutics: Repetition, Deconstruction, and the Hermeneutic Project. Bloomington/Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1987.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Caputo, John D., The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2006.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Caputo, John D., The Insistence of God: A Theology of Perhaps. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2013.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Caputo, John D., Hoping Against Hope: Confessions of a Postmodern Pilgrim. Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Caputo, John D., The Folly of God: A Theology of the Unconditional. Salem, Polebridge Press, 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Caputo, John D., On Religion. Tweede herziene editie. London, Routledge, 2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Caputo, John D., What to Believe? Twelve Brief Lessons in Radical Theology. New York, Columbia University Press, 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Caputo, John D. & GianniVattimo, After the Death of God. Red. Jeffrey W.Robbins. New York, Columbia University Press, 2007.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Derrida, Jacques, ‘Faith and Knowledge: the Two Sources of “Religion” at the Limits of Reason Alone’, in: JacquesDerrida & GianniVattimo (red.), Religion. Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1998, 1-78.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Derrida, Jacques & GianniVattimo (red.), Religion. Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1998.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Dickinson, Emily, Collected Poems. Red. Mabel LoomisTodd & T.W.Higginson. New York, Gramercy Books, 1982 [1890, 1891, 1896].
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Kearney, Richard, Anatheism: Returning to God After God. New York, Columbia University Press, 2010.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Kearney, Richard, ‘God After God: An Anatheist Attempt to Reimagine God’, in: RichardKearney & JensZimmerman (red.), Reimagining the Sacred: Richard Kearney Debates God. New York, Columbia University Press, 2016, 6-18.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Kearney, Richard, ‘God Making: An Essay in Theopoetic Imagination’, in: Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology, 4, 1, 2017, 31-44. doi.org/10.1080/20539320.2017.1319625.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Kearney, Richard & Caputo, John, ‘Anatheism and Radical Hermeneutics: Dialogue with John Caputo’, in: RichardKearney & JensZimmerman (red.), Reimagining the Sacred: Richard Kearney Debates God. New York, Columbia University Press, 2016, 193-218.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Kearney, Richard & Zimmerman, Jens (red.), Reimagining the Sacred: Richard Kearney Debates God. New York, Columbia University Press, 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Lacan, Jacques, ‘The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience’, in: JacquesLacan, Écrits. Vertaald door BruceFink in samenwerking met HéloïseFink & RussellGrigg. New York/Londen, W.W. Norton, 2004 [1949], 75-81.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Moody, Katharine Sarah, ‘John D. Caputo’, in C.D.Rodkey & J.E.Miller (red.), The Palgrave Handbook of Radical Theology. Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, 95-116. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96595-6_7.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Robbins, Jeffrey W., In Search of a Non-Dogmatic Theology. Aurora, The Davies Group, 2003.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Robbins, Jeffrey W., ‘Introduction: After the Death of God’, in: John D.Caputo & GianniVattimo, After the Death of God. Red. Jeffrey W.Robbins. New York, Columbia University Press, 2007, 1-24.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Stoker, Wessel. God opnieuw verbeeld. Een theologische kunstbeschouwing. Almere, Parthenon, 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Svenungsson, Jayne, ‘The Return of Religion or the End of Religion? On the Need to Rethink Religion as a Category of Social and Political Life’, in: Philosophy and Social Criticism, 46, 7, 2020, 785–809. doi.org/10.1177/0191453719896384.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Tillich, Paul, Dynamics of Faith, in: PaulTillich, Writings on Religion/Religiöse Schriften. Main Works/Hauptwerke 5. Red. Robert P.Scharlemann. Berlin/New York, De Gruyter, 1988 [1957], 231-290.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Vattimo, Gianni, Ik geloof dat ik geloof. Amsterdam, Boom, 2011 [1996].
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Wolsink, Sabine, ‘“Let Us Just Be Humans”: Reading Allard Pierson’s True Humanity through the Lens of Caputo’s Religion without Religion’, in: Religions, 15, 3, 2024, 340. doi.org/10.3390/rel15030340.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.5117/NEDLET2025.2-3.005.WOLS
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Différance; Event; Hermeneutics; John D. Caputo; Theopoetics; Transformation
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error