The Rebellious No: Variations on a Secular Theology of Language

By Noelle Vahanian

This book aims to renew theological thinking by extending and radicalizing an iconoclastic and existentialist mode of thought. It proposes a theology whose point of departure assumes and accepts the critiques of religion launched by Nietzsche, Freud, Marx, and Feuerbach but nevertheless takes theological desire seriously as a rebellious force working within, but against, an anthropomorphic, phallogocentric worldview.

As a theology of language, it does not claim any privileged access to some transcendent divine essence or ground of Being. On the contrary, for Noelle Vahanian theology is a strictly secular discourse, like any other discourse, but aware of its limitations and wary of great promises--its own included. Its faith is that this secular theological desire can be a force against the constitutive indifference of thought, and it is a meditative act of rebellion. Aphoristic instead of argumentative, this book offers an original and constructive engagement with such seminal issues as indifference, belief, madness, and love.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823256952
• ISBN13: 9780823256952
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"