God, the Gift, and Postmodernism

At a time when the themes and motifs of French phenomenology have moved in an increasingly religious direction, God, the Gift, and Postmodernism raises with new energy Tertullian's ancient question, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, engages here with theologian Jean-Luc Marion on the questions of mystical theology and the gift. Is the gift a matter of the overflowing excess of givenness, as Marion argues, or is it precisely what is never given, as Derrida maintains? Is mystical theology ultimately a higher way of affirming presence, or is it a path beyond the metaphysics of presence? Probing essays by the leading scholars in the field of postmodernism and religion spell out the terms of these important contemporary debates and related issues in clear, exciting, and timely form. Book jacket.