Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith

Gianni Vattimo is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Turin and a member of the European Parliament. His books with Columbia University Press are Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue (with Rene Girard), Not Being God: A Collaborative Autobiography, Art's Claim to Truth, After the Death of God, Dialogue with Nietzsche, The Future of Religion (with Richard Rorty), Nihilism and Emancipation: Ethics, Politics, and the Law, and After Christianity. Rene Girard held the position of Andrew B. Hammond Professor of French Language, Literature, and Civilization at Stanford University until his retirement in 1995. He is the cofounder of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, which meets annually to discuss issues in mimetic theory, scapegoating, violence, and religion, and his books include Violence and the Sacred, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, and A Theatre of Envy. In 2005, Girard was elected to L'Academie francaise, the highest tribute for a French intellectual. Pierpaolo Antonello is senior university lecturer in Italian at St. John's College, Cambridge University William McCuaig is most recently the translator of Vattimo's Not Being God.

• Note on the Text Introduction, by Pierpaolo Antonello 1. Christianity and Modernity, by Gianni Vattimo and Rene Girard 2. Faith and Relativism, by Gianni Vattimo and Rene Girard 3. Hermeneutics, Authority, Tradition, by Gianni Vattimo and Rene Girard 4. Heidegger and Girard: Kenosis and the End of Metaphysics, by Gianni Vattimo 5. Not Just Interpretations, There Are Facts, Too, by Rene Girard Notes Bibliography

Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith truly marks an important set of occasions in which two of today's most prominent and perhaps controversial thinkers on Christianity engage each other's thoughts. The glaring question is: How could such a dialogue not set into violent conflict the factual approach of the anthropologist Girard and the hermeneutic approach of the nihilist Vattimo? It seems that the real success of the editor is his understanding that these thinkers already share much and have interests and methods that greatly complement--and even support--each other. -- Robert T. Valgenti, Lebanon Valley College Rich, difficult, fascinating, and provocative reading on Christianity and culture from two of the new Europe's leading eggheads. Library Journal