Minimal Theologies : Critiques of Secular Reason in Adorno and Le

Are theology, metaphysics, and ethics outdated as modes of rigorous philosophical inquiry? Is the concept of reason now exclusively subjective or entirely illusory? Is faith possible in the aftermath of the twentieth century? In their writings, Theodor Adorno and Emmanuel Levinas suggest that "after Auschwitz," one can no longer assume the presence of a divinity originating or directing the course of the world. At the same time, they contend, one must doubt the claims of rigid nihilism and lax relativism. What remains, they each argue in their own way, is a trace of a transcendent Other, whatever its nature. In Minimal Theologies, Hent de Vries analyzes, systematizes, and formalizes this idea of the Other in Adorno and Levinas, positing that theology is still possible in the modern and postmodern world, though only a theology stripped of its lofty pretensions: a theology in pianissimo, a minimal theology. Confronting the language, argumentation, and images employed by these two otherwise divergent thinkers, de Vries argues that rationality and faith can be reconciled.Offering the first extensive comparative analysis of Adorno and Levinas, Minimal Theologies also provides intriguing insights into the works of their respective intellectual heirs, Habermas and Derrida. Originally published in German to critical acclaim - it received the University of Leiden´s Legatum-Stolpianum Prize in 1994, awarded once every five years to the best study in philosophical theology - this book has been revised to take into account recent scholarship on Adorno and Levinas and de Vries´s further reflections on the subject.
What, at this historical moment "after Auschwitz," still remains of the questions traditionally asked by theology? What now is theology´s minimal degree? This magisterial study, the first extended comparison of the writings of Theodor W. Adorno and Emmanuel Levinas, explores remnants and echoes of religious forms in these thinkers´ critiques of secular reason, finding in the work of both a "theology in pianissimo" constituted by the trace of a transcendent other. The author analyzes, systematizes, and formalizes this idea of an other of reason. In addition, he frames these thinkers´ innovative projects within the arguments of such intellectual heirs as Jürgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida, defending their work against later accusations of "performative contradiction" (by Habermas) or "empiricism" (by Derrida) and in the process casting important new light on those later writers as well. Attentive to rhetorical and rational features of Adorno´s and Levinas´s texts, his investigations of the concepts of history, subjectivity, and language in their writings provide a radical interpretation of their paradoxical modes of thought and reveal remarkable and hitherto unsuspected parallels between their philosophical methods, parallels that amount to a plausible way of overcoming certain impasses in contemporary philosophical thinking. In Adorno, this takes the form of a dialectical critique of dialectics; in Levinas, that of a phenomenological critique of phenomenology, each of which sheds new light on ancient and modern questions of metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. For the English-language publication, the author has extensively revised and updated the prize-winning German version.