Postmodern Theology And Jean-Luc Marion: An Interlude On The ‘theological Turn,’ Continued

Previous Posts (in descending order):

I will try to be as brief as possible since I already feel like I have distracted too much attention away from the focus of this series. In my previous post (listed above) I noted the impact of postmodern theology, flowing from phenomenological discourse, on the “theological turn” at large in culture today, especially given the somewhat recent celebrity of Slavoj Zizek’s “materialist theology.” In this post I would like to focus on two foreseeable effects, the first will not require much elaboration and the second will only be mentioned in passing with a hope to return to it at the end of the series.

The end of the “God (and not-God) taboo”

In the current culture we find ourselves in, there is a fear of God and not-God. I am not sure how to put it, but there just seems to be a general fright over the possibility of God in both directions. Shrouded in political correctness and strange cocktails of ideology and goodwill, there is a geist that desires as neutral and un-intrusive a stance as possible when it comes to God and religion. Sadly, this has been sold in the same circles that sell postmodern goods. In a strange bit of fate, the very thing (postmodernism) that seems so well-positioned to fight positivist fundamentalisms has been largely infected by a rather positivist approach to God.

The greatest effect of this taboo of God and religion in the culture at large has been silence. Like most effective taboos, God has been castrated from serious discourse for fear of being seen as a proponent of the inquisition, or something like that.

Postmodern theology and this “theological turn” are an antidote to that ailment, as I see it. Not that there is a ever a cure for such things, but, finally, we can talk again. I can go to secular academic conferences and use the cultural capital of Zizek to talk about theology. I can go to Catholic academic conferences and talk about postmodernism using the cultural capital of Marion to talk about postmodernism. This is too simplistic, to be sure, but my point is that the effect of this return to theology in places other than theology will be to destroy, or at least crack at, the taboo of secular fundamentalism.

Which seems like a good thing to me.

A new/old reconsideration of Eucharistic theology (among other things, of course).

Without going into great depth on the historical factors that make it the case, Catholic pastoral understanding of the Sacraments has been deeply inscribed in an exclusively Latin Rite (as Henry Karlson has helped me so much in realizing) and distinctly Aristotelian approach. (For an interesting engagement with this series and connection to Aristotle via the Arabic world, see this post from the erudite blog: Aprendite Disciplinam.)

Nowhere could this be clearer than in the favoring of the empiricist-tinged, Latin meaning of sacramentum (sign) over the Greek mysterion (mystery) in understanding the sacraments in general and, more specifically, in the doctrine of transubstanciation that is steeped in Aristotle’s substance and form dualism, which is central to Thomistic thought.

A postmetaphysical approach to theology would require a new understanding that, in my mind, would lead us closer to the tradition of the Greek Church; the legacy of John more than Peter (and Aquinas). In particular,—that is to say in this series treating the thought of Jean-Luc Marion—this approach will describe the Eucharist not as substance or accident, but as saturated phenomenon: God in excess.

To get to that point, however, I must focus again on the distinction from Marion’s God Without Being: “idol” and “icon.” That distinction will provide the framework to re-engage with giveness as a descriptive method for theology, postmodern theology.

Thank you for reading along in this tedious series; please let me know how its going for you so far.

Postmodern Theology and Jean-Luc Marion: An interlude on the ‘theological turn,’ continued