Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida

John D. Caputo is David R. Cook Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University. He is author of Radical Hermeneutics: Repetition, Deconstruction, and the Hermeneutic Project; Against Ethics: Contributions to a Poetics of Obligation with Constant Reference to Deconstruction; and Demythologizing Heidegger.

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: A Passion for the ImpossibleA Map for the PerplexedI. The Apophatic1. God Is Not différance2. Dreaming the Impossible Dream: Derrida and Levinas on the Impossible3. Affirmation at the Limits: How Not to Speak4. Save the Name: Wholly Other Towards a General ApophaticsEdifying Divertissement No. 1. Bedeviling FaithII. The Apocalyptic5. Viens!6. Messianic Time: Derrida and Blanchot7. An Apocalypse sans Apocalypse, To Jacques of El Biar8. The SecretEdifying Divertissement No. 2. From Elea to Elohim: God of the Same, God of the OtherIII. The messianic9. Of Marx and the Messiah10. Messianic Passion and the Religion of Saint Jacques11. Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone (Almost)IV. The Gift12. The Time of Giving and ForgivingEdifying Divertissement No. 3. Traditions and the World-Play13. Abraham's Gift14. Abraham and the PhariseesEdifying Divertissement No. 4. Deconstruction and the Kingdom of GodV. Circumcision15. Hegel and the JewsEdifying Divertissement No. 5. Deferring Incarnation—and Jesus the Jew16. Circumcision17. Is Deconstruction Really a Jewish science?VI. Confession18. The Son of These Tears: The Confession of Jacques de la Rue-AugustinEdifying Divertissement No. 6. A Prayer19. These Weeping Eyes, Those Seeing Tears: The Faith of Jacques DerridaConclusion: A Passion for GodBibliography on Derrida and Religion

"... the most thorough and illuminating study to date of the decisive role played by the religious within Jacques Derrida's writings." Journal of Religion "The question of the relation between Derrida and religion has gradually been attracting attention. Caputo ... offers us here what may be the definitive study of this issue... Highly recommended." Choice "The book is a feast of wordplay, but it is wordplay the mind can feed on... a landmark publication." --Journal of the American Academy of Religion "Caputo's book is riveting... A singular achievement of stylistic brio and impeccable scholarship, it breaks new ground in making a powerful case for treating Derrida as homo religiosis... There can be no mistaking the importance of Caputo's work." -- Edith Wyschogrod "No one interested in Derrida, in Caputo, or in the larger question of postmodernism and religion can afford to ignore this pathbreaking study. Taking full advantage of the most recent and least discussed writings of Derrida, it offers a careful and comprehensive account of the religious dimension of Derrida's thought." -- Merold Westphal