Gianni Vattimo is one of a number of continental philosophers who have turned to religion as a result of the dissolution of metaphysical thought. Asserting that modern culture has realized the limit of reason, he has stated, “we believed that we could realize justice on earth, but now reckon that it is no longer possible and turn our hopes to God.” (Christ in Postmodern Philosophy: Gianni Vattimo, Rene Girard and Slavoj Zizek, 9) Interestingly, Vattimo’s (re)turn to the Catholicism of his youth – and his basis for the postmodern turn to religion – was prompted not by an engagement within the institutions of faith, but rather by his (re)reading of Nietzsche’s nihilism and Heidegger’s history of Being.

Furthermore, reading these thinkers in conversation with René Girard has provided a fascinating parallel between the divine in metaphysical thought and natural religiosity, thus highlighting the importance of the Incarnation. My thesis, then, is that by engaging with Vattimo’s weak thought, we can be further enabled for deconstructing the temples(s) of contemporary Christianity. Vattimo’s engagement with Nietzsche (and Heidegger) provides the foundation by which he is able to assert “there is no ultimate foundation.” (After Christianity, 3) In stark contrast to many fundamentalist theologies wherein Jesus embodies a violent God, Vattimo sees the Incarnation as the necessary precursor to the dissolution of metaphysics, and even the concept of the sacred.

Christianity accomplished the first attack against metaphysics construed exclusively as objectivity… [It] announces the end to the Plantonic ideal of objectivity. It cannot be the eternal word of forms outside ourselves that saves us, but only the eye directed toward the interior and the searching of the deep truth inside us all. (After the Death of God, 31)

Thus, in a view similar to Marcion, Vattimo sees Christian faith – and more precisely, the Incarnation – as the substantiation that the true God is one of mercy instead of justice. Accordingly, any element of a vengeful, taut autre must be discarded as natural religion. In his engagement with the Incarnation, Vattimo relies heavily upon the work of René Girard, adopting his views regarding violence and the sacred. He notes

if a ‘divine’ truth is given in Christianity, it is an unmasking of the violence that has given birth to the sacred of natural religion, that is, the sacred that is characteristic of the metaphysical God. (After Christianity, 38)

It is at this point that we catch the first glimpses of Vattimo’s contribution to our ecclesiological deconstructive project. Second temple Judaism undoubtedly wed the sacred with violence, as is seen in the gospel accounts of Jesus’ temple action. Following this prophetic Event, Mark notes “The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill [Jesus], for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.” (Mark 11.18, NIV)

It is for this reason that Žižek (in The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity) – and Rollins, following him (in The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief) – may give Judas entirely too much credit, or not do enough deconstruction (or “violence” to?!) to the Passion narrative itself.

Tags: Church, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gianni Vattimo, Peter Rollins, Slavoj Žižek
Categories: Pages

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 12:46 am and is filed under Pages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.