Reimagining the Sacred

Kearney (Anatheism), philosopher and phenomenologist at Boston College, provocatively asks, what is still sacred after the death of God? Expanding German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s notion of a “nonreligious interpretation of Christianity,” Kearney seeks a philosophy of God that can resacralize a postreligious English-speaking world. With philosopher and theologian Jens Zimmermann, Kearney engages nearly a dozen philosophers and cultural theorists, including Julia Kristeva, Jean-Luc Marion, and Catherine Keller, in conversation over his highly esoteric hermeneutic of “anatheism” (described as the study of God after God). The book garners the results of their exchanges about Kearney’s hypothesis that, in the postmodern age, we are approaching a moment of radical encounter with the Divine, one that flourishes not only within religious structures but also in meeting the Other, an experience of dialogue rather than dogma. “Anatheism’s call to hospitality in order to recover God after the death of God is a vital initiative for our current cultural and political climate,” Zimmermann summarizes. This rigorous, forward-thinking intellectual treatise opens new space for religious humanism amid cacophonous secular, political, and religious debate. (Dec.)