Badiou and Theology

Dr Frederiek Depoortere is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) at the Faculty of Theology, K.U.Leuven (Belgium) and a member of the research group 'Theology in a Postmodern Context'.

• Table of Contents Abbreviations Introduction: Alain Badiou, Theology and the Political 1. Christianity and the Modern Passion for the New 2. The Theological Promise of Alain Badiou 3. The Threefold ‘Death' of God: Badiou's Challenge to Theology 4. Aim and Scope of the Present Volume Chapter 1: Faith and the Existence of God 1. Religion and Faith: Terminological Clarifications a. Religion b. Faith b.1. Dei Filius on Faith b.2. Thomas Aquinas on Faith b.3. Conclusion c. Conclusion 2. The Existence of God Revisited a. The Closed Circle of Faith: An Example b. An Analysis of Existential Statements in General c. An Analysis of the Statement ‘God Exists' d. Aquinas's Understanding of Being and the Being of God e. In Conclusion Chapter 2: Badiou on Being 1. The Mathematical Turn 2. Ontology: Theory of the Pure Multiple 3. Ontology: Theory of the Void a. Introducing the Issue of Zero b. The Multiple of Nothing c. The Void d. Theory of the Void 4. The Actual Infinite 5. In Conclusion Chapter 3: First Steps Towards a Future Theological Evaluation of Badiou's Ontology 1. Aquinas on God's Infinity and Unity 2. Cantor on Aquinas, Origen and Augustine on the Mathematical Infinite 3. Cantor on the Absolute 4. God's Infinity and Unity Revisited in the Context of Set Theory Bibliography Index

‘This is not a book this is the explosion of what happens when the world's greatest living philosopher, Alain Badiou and history's most perfect logics (theology) meet each other.  Being theology's first careful and sustained engagement with Badiou's work by one of the brightest young and capable theologians in our time, this book cannot be ignored.  Depoortere deftly maneuvers and situates an orthodox catholic theology by drawing on a range of figures and themes from Thomas Aquinas and other theological giants to Cantorian set-theory and the ontology of mathematics. Depoortere does this with such precision, rhetorical beauty and integrity that what you get is a genuine and real engagement with Badiou's ontology without backing down or conceding a single point. This is not your standard 20th century "ironic" theology that tries to pass itself off for its fake twin—the secular world. The upshot of this book unappologically shows how the Christian passion for the new brings Badiou's work into a promising engagement and will surely change the very framework by which we understand theology and the infinite in our time.' - Creston Davis, Rollins College, Florida, USA