Through the employment of the work of Slavoj Žižek and his engagement with the Apostle Paul, Axton argues that Paul in Romans 6-8 understands sin as a lie grounding the subject outside of Christ, and salvation is an exposure and displacement of this lie. The theological significance of Žižek (along with Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan) is his demonstration of the pervasive and systemic nature of this lie and its description as he finds it in Romans 7. The specific overlap of the two disciplines of psychology and theology is found in the psychoanalytic understanding that the human Subject or the psyche is structured in three registers: the symbolic, the imaginary and the real. These three registers function like a lie analogous to the Pauline categories of law, ego, and the 'body of death' which constitute Paul's dynamic of sin's deception. Axton argues that if sin is understood as a lie grounding the Subject, the exposure of the lie or the dispelling of any notion of mystery connected to sin is integral to salvation and the reconstructing of the Subject in Christ. While the lie of sin is mediated by the law, new life in the Spirit is not through the law but is a principle unto itself, which though it accounts for the law, is beyond the law.
Paul V. Axton is Professor of Theology and Missions at Central Christian College of the Bible, USA. He spent 15 years as the president of American Christian College in Tokyo, Japan, where he was also a preacher and missionary.
IntroductionChapter One: The Subject of the Death DriveChapter Two: The Subject of the LieChapter Three: Living with the Lie of Radical Freedom and Radical EvilChapter Four: Sin Deceived MeChapter Five: Sex and Death with the Universal SubjectChapter Six: Dying with Christ in ŽižekChapter Seven: The Context of Romans: The Universal Problem of Sin and Death Overcome in Christ Chapter Eight: The Law of Sin and DeathChapter Nine: Life beyond the Law of SinChapter Ten: The Law of the Spirit of LifeConclusion
The strength of the work lies in its ability to create a theological discourse between Pauline language in Romans 6-8 and contemporary psychoanalytical theory as articulated by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Slavoj Žižek ... Axton's work is impressive in its creativity and breadth of knowledge ... and opens new possibilities for considering Paul's thought.
