Taubes, Badiou, Agamben

8/13/2019 Taubes, Badiou, Agamben

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SBL Toronto 2002

Romans Through History and Cultures Seminar

Taubes, Badiou, Agamben

Reception of Paul by Non-Christian Philosophers Today[1

Alain !ignac

"ni#ersit$ de %ontr$al

Most contemporary receptions of Romans areinterpretations by Christians ho read this te!t

as Scripture"# $%renholm and &atte 2000' ()

*s part of the Romans through History and Cultures Seminar'# + am presenting three contemporary

readings of &aul proposed by ,uropean philosophers"-2. Sign of the times at the turn of the

millennium/ These reading hae 1ust been published in rench' one right after the other3 *lain

Badiou $(445'(446)' 7acob Taubes $(444' translation of the original posthumous %erman published

in (448)' and %iorgio *gamben $2000' translation from the original +talian published the same

year)" The pro1ect pursued here is an ambitious one' since each of these or9s could:and should:

be the sub1ect of a separate study" Three reasons prompt me to underta9e this daring tas93 to bring
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/SBL2002/Philos.htmhttp://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/SBL2002/Philos.htmhttp://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features_list.html#cachedhttp://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features_list.html#cachedhttp://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:NhwcwCuyeEsJ:www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/SBL2002/Philos.htm+http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/SBL2002/Philos.htmhttp://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features_list.html#cachedhttp://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:NhwcwCuyeEsJ:www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/SBL2002/Philos.htm+http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/SBL2002/Philos.htm


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these or9s as yet unpublished in ,nglish into public ie; to bring to light the intersections

lin9ing them; and to reflect upon the hermeneutic implications of these nons ritings' + find

myself in a parado!ical situation" + am paid by the State to do theology in a society hich is

e!tremely ambialent' een profoundly ill at ease' about religious matters:no considered

irreleant" ?e are spea9ing of a society that ill not een dra on its Christian roots' hoeer

fertile they may be" Haing eoled on the outs9irts of @orth *merica>s mainstream *nglos =uebec' studying the Bible

in a scientific and faiths authority and releance abide in its

haing been transmitted by the belieing community and in its capacity for transmitting that

community>s e!perience"-F.Gespite the fact that + personally assume the canonical character of the


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1.2 The Context of the Romans Seminar

By proposing to underta9e a classical criticismrather than a strictly spea9ingscriptural criticism,

does my contribution respect the spirit of this seminar' as described in the preface to the first boo9

in the collection of its published or9s $%renholm and &atte 2000)/ To ob1ections occur to me"

n the one hand' the seminar ta9es a resolutely confessional stance3 ?ithout denying the alue

and insightfulness of non religious readings' this approach is deliberately focused upon indiidual

and communal interpretations of biblical te!ts by belieers' because these interpretations hae been

neglected for too long by biblical studies"# $%renholm and &atte 2000' 8)" +t is clear that the three

thin9ers hom + present do not offer a religious reading:hich does not mean that they do not

respect the religious perspectie of the te!t" =uite to the contrary' ta9ing a ie opposed to the

aboe Duote' + onder whether these profane and secular readers of Paul cannot help us rediscover

the religious depths of Romans' by getting us out of our confessional ruts and stereotypical

readings. +t een seems to me that these nons my turn to poach for nutritious game in the hunting grounds of the

philosophers"

1. Three !hiloso"hers

Taubes' Badiou' and *gamben are little 9non in the Knited States; only the last named is


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systematically translated into ,nglish" *s part of their uniersity teaching $seminars)' they hae

read &aul in their respectie philosophical reading traditions:+ shall come bac9 to this:as the

culmination and erification of their philosophical process" ?e are dealing ith mature thin9ers and

not noices" ?e can unhesitatingly affirm that they are attentie' curious' erudite' empathetic

readers ho meet the te!t ith hat they consider urgent and crucial Duestions" Broadly' hat is atsta9e is nothing less than e!amining the possibility of politics in today>s orld here the collapse of

Mar!ism gies free reign to the only suriing proponent3 neo


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his lectures should be published3 strange for a man ho published so little during his career"

Moreoer' the tone:by turns confiding' anecdotal' and trenchantly 1udgemental-((.:and the form

:digressions' understatements' circular thought' incomplete demonstrations:are both

beildering" @or is Taubes deoid of humour about himself3 + should hae deoted myself to

theology' but by anity and destiny' + became a philosopher"# $2()" inally' he ends up by describinghimself as a &auline nons stated adherence to 7udaism' and' aboe all'the influences he has accepted"

Die politische heologie des Paulusreeals to us the author>s intellectual itinerary" Taubes as first

the disciple of %ershom Scholem $2F) ho had himself been the close friend of ?alter Ben1amin" +n

critical terms' Taubes falls in line ith Ben1amin ho adocated transforming the orld through

commitment to political action in the form of messianic nihilism $(0Es hole opus' and especially the boo9 ith hich e are

concerned' is a dialogue ith the conseratie Catholic 1urist' Carl Schmitt"-(2.This dialogue could

only be dramatic' since Schmitt ' li9e Martin Heidegger' had gien his consent to the @aAi regime

and its theo


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Carl Schmitt thin9s apocalyptically' but from the top don' from the domain of the poers' hereas+ thin9 from the bottom up" But e both share the e!perience of time and history as a delay" *ndthis as' originally' the Christian e!perience of time $Taubes (444a' (E)

?e 9ne that e ere adversaries both in life and in death' but eunderstood each other deeply because e 9ne' both of us' that e erespea9ing on the same leel" $(0E' emphasis added)

The ord adversary' to hich e may add the ord enemy' is here of heay significance" +t ill

determine the crucial importance of Rom ((326 hich' for Taubes' becomes the 9ey to the hole

letter3 *s regards the gospel they are enemiesof %od for your sa9e; but as regards election they are

beloved' for the sa9e of their ancestors#$emphasis added)" But' if e ould understand the full

eight of the ord' e must 9no Schmitt>s specific use of it" -(8.n this' + shall Duote the limpide!planation gien by Ganiel Tanguay3

He intended this distinction to e!press a concrete and e!istential meaning3the political struggle is constituted first by the clash of groups hich aregathered together on the grounds of a friendss

no see hat results it ill hae for the interpretation of Romans.

Problematics

+t really does ta9e a certain chee9 to tac9le this te!t# $(5)" ?hat compels Taubes to read Romans is


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that time is running out' in to senses3 *s + said' he 9nos that his days are numbered; but then his

entire career also bears the stamp of this apocalyptic urgency" Taubes tells ho' during his only

meeting ith Carl Schmitt' he had defended his apocalyptic and .eish reading of Paul' shoing

him the impossibility of founding a Christian anti


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him on this point"

+n line ith the history of religions $E5)' Taubes proposes to be a philologist attentie to religious

symbolism hich' according to him' is a ris9y intuitie method but one hich' if s9illfully

practised' can be fruitful" He ants to touch the e!perience hich emerges in the &auline te!t' an

e!perience that he more than once correlates ith the $mystical) 7eish e!perience recurring in

history $54)3 he relates &aul to Sabbatianism' the liturgy of Jom Pippur' the mentality manifested in

the current collections sent by the Giaspora to +srael' the return of young *merican 7es to +srael'

the e!perience of ?alter Ben1amin in his youth"-(.Taubes calls this a phenomenological reading3

Ho does this feel to a 7e/# $5E)" He thus pleads in faour of a sensus allegoricus' an

interpretation contried to point toards a life e!perience-(F.$5(

definition ofphilology' a term hich surfaces often in his discourse' can doubtless be related to

close reading.

inally' + note a broad hermeneutical openness' summed up in the folloing formula3 +t is easy to

read &aul>s history unilaterally and not see the latent elements it conceals" ?e may say that no one

has understood it and that' all the same' no one has entirely misread his ords# $40)"

?hat emerges in the course of the reading/ %eneral remar93 the $intuitie) grasp of the letter as a

hole is remar9able3 The ,pistle to the Romans is a great fugue hich begins in (3(6 ith theorg$ theouand hich then unfurls in aes' in F' then in 5' and hich culminates in the great shout

of 1ubilation in Chapter 6# $4)" +n the first part of his boo9' folloing his conersation ith

Schmitt' Taubes truly reads" Though indulging in occasional digressions' Taubes gies a close

coherent reading of the folloing passages3 the letter>s epistolary frameor9 $Rom (3(


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hereas in the ,pistle to the Romans (8' he treats the Duestion of 9noingho to behae as part of the Roman ,mpire hich represents eil" $E5)

Taubes reads ith great finesse' not hesitating' for e!ample' to adance a nons liberal reformed rabbis $24) ,en &aul>s %ree9' hich is that of the Giaspora' affords a

functional analogy lin9ing his %oin$ith Jiddish $20)" &aul is certainly the *postle to the %entilesbut this needs to be stated more specifically3 He is the &ewish messenger ho brings the good nes

to non


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F" +n seeral places $68' 65' (8F)' Taubes insists on the folloing obseration3 &aul modifies the

dual commandment of loe for %od and loe for neighbour hich seems to go bac9 to 7esus; hen

only the loe of neighbour is considered $cf" Rom (834)3 attention is fi!ed on the son' on man;

there is already no longer any Duestion of the father in this commandment# $68)" *ere again,

another surprise, founded however on a 6udicious observation. Where !uther had problematiciedRomans anthropologically(the 6ustification), where 'alvin problematicied it theologically (the

6ustice of od), aubes brings us bac% to the anthropological but by means of ethics.

E" This leads us to a final' somehat obscure thesis hich closes Taubes>s seminar li9e a san song3

there needs to be a ne interpretation of &aul based on reud and his boo9 /oses and /onotheism

$(84)" reud ho treats the fundamental e!perience of guilt is a direct descendant of &aul# $(8()"

7udaism ould be a guilt


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Lacan' adding to them mathematical concepts of set theory borroed from %eorg Cantor and &aul

Cohen' among others" Badiou>s pro1ect consists in re


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and management $(8)" ?hat e!ample can be gien to ma9e this comprehensible/ Badiou puts

forard the rench Reolution $(564s boo9'

for the most part faourably $=uesnel (444' for e!ample)' -20.hae not pic9ed up on the potential

for misunderstanding implied" Thus' hen Badiou spea9s of the fable of Christ>s resurrection $F) it

is surely to aoid laying himself open to the criticism of haing become a Christian" +nd ta%ing

an interest not in the content but in the structure of the =resurrection> event, he neutralies and

secularies it. @onetheless' the ordfableis more ambiguous than it may appear" n the one hand'

it can be used to describe an effect of language here the ineffable attempts to e!press itself:an

intuition present in Lacan but e!plored in depth by Ge Certeau $(442) and not to be confused either

ith naietO or ith myth" n the other hand' the ord can refer to the ery meaning of eent

hich + hae 1ust briefly presented3 +s it not characteristic of the eent to befabulous/

?hy ino9e and analyse this fable/ Let us ma9e something ery clear3 for us'it is ery precisely a fable -.3 7esus has risen" @o' this is indeed the

fabulous point' since all the rest' the birth' the preaching' the death may afterall be tenable" ?hat is fable# in a narratie is that hich' for us' fails totouch anything real' if not that inisible and indirectly accessible residuehich clings to hateer is patently imaginary" +n this respect' &aul brings the


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Christian narratie bac9 to its sole point as fable' ith the forcefulness of oneho 9nos that' holding this point as real' one is spared the hole imaginaryfringe surrounding it" $F)

?hen Badiou affirms let us say that for us it is rigourously impossible to beliee in the

resurrection of the Crucified ne"# $E) this is not to belittle the resurrection but to affirm theimpossibility he feels:contrary to &aul:to name it an eent" +n any case' li9e any eent the

Resurrection of Christ is neither an argument' nor an accomplishment" @or is there any proof of the

eent' nor is the eent itself any proof $F2)"#

+n line ith this' our closing remar9s turn to the main criticism raised against Badiou $for e!ample

Lyotard (464' 20ff; QiAe9 2000' (8s :aint Paul.

Problematics

The Duestions driing Badiou>s reading of &aul are clearly deeloped in chapter ( &aul>s

Contemporaneity# $F


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homogeniAation of the circulation of capital and its complete disregard for persons" Cultural

globaliAation and the retreat into ethnic enclaes are to sides of the same coin3 The capitalist

logic of general eDuialence and the identity and cultural logic of communities or minorities form

an integral hole# $((' cf" ()"-2(.We must be open to a reading of Romanswhich allows us to

state clearly some criticism of the current political crisis.

Reading approach

Badiou does not hesitate to accord &aul the status of a classic' but he fails to define this status3 +

hae alays read the ,pistles as one returns to classical te!ts hich are particularly familiar' ell designate properly

nothing that e could spontaneously understand in the ord people> -. it is a matter of hat &aul

considers the to coherent intellectual figures in the orld hich is his# $8s reading of reud" The destitution of the to master

discourses:7eish particularism and $false) %ree9 uniersaliAation:founds the eDuality of the

sons' hich is true uniersalism" $E8) There e!ists a fourth discourse' that of the mystic' hich is in

the order of the ineffable and the non


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necessarily occupy the place of death"# $64) ?y clearly identifying the =5> of Rom 2 with a

'hristian Pauline =5>, ?adiou clearly ta%es sides in a controversial debateIa plausible option

beside the +damic =5> and the /osaic =5>. *e also follows in the trac%s of many readings done

from a psychoanalytical perspective (for instance !acan 0113, J@JK), but his reading of !acan has

been strongly contested (Fie% 3444, 0H3@0HG).

F" Basing himself on Rom E3s analysis' there is nothing death here does not refer to the biological reality' but to one of the to facets of the diided

human condition $cf" thesis 8)" *ccording to Badiou' the death> of Christ allos %od to enter intosolidarity ith the diided human being and permits the latter to opt for life" n the one hand' this

solidarity is called reconciliation' an eDualiAation hich distinguishes itself from salation $Rom

F3(0)3 e become li9e Christ for he becomes li9e us# $Badiou 2000' 880)" n the other hand' to

resurrect' to be saed' is to opt for life3 The hole point is to 9no hether any e!istence'

brea9ing ith the cruel ordinariness of time' encounters the material opportunity to sere a truth and

to thus become an immortal' ithin the sub1ectie diision' Duite beyond the surial instincts of

the human animal"# $50) By this conceptual formaliAation' Badiou operates as ell a seculariAation

of grace# $50' see also 4()" his thesis is ?adious most daring. 5t discards the eistential

interpretation of =being@for@death> (cf. *eidegger) and a good part of !atin soteriology as well,

but it is not without some analogy with ree% soteriology which stressed diviniation >od became

human so that the human being might become od.> 5n this sense, it relativies the sacrificial

interpretation of the death of 'hrist and replies directly to the aubes@8reud duet. he theologian,

for his part, sits stunned by this immanentiation of salvation, its reduction to the opportunity of

embracing an intra@wordly cause@event. /oreover, it is remar%able that ?adiou revisits the all

important reconciliationCsalvation distinction in Romans, but from an entirely different perspective,

which allows me to note that he never refers to the metaphor of 6ustificationImuch li%e aubes, in


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fact. 8inally, the question remains" Does ?adiou do 6ustice to the Lfor us of the death of 'hrist7

E" inally' Badiou gies an original interpretation of the &aul>s three theological irtues' in the sense

of a militancy faithful to the eent proclaimed $chapters +++ and +U' 4(s reading of &aul cannot be understood ithout

some 9noledge of the progress of his thought oer almost thirty years"

(ystem +#ision of the orld

+n an interie ith the rench daily !ib#ration $Marongiu and *gamben (444)' the +talian

philosopher indicates ho his meeting ith Heidegger had constituted a philosophical ocation-25.

and ho Ben1amin had been for him an antidote to the traces of poison Heidegger>s thought could

contain $) +n the interie' he also describes himself as an epigone -. ho is trying to finish' to

complete hat others' far better than himself' hae left undone'# e!plaining that his political

reflections oe a great deal to Ben1amin' hose or9s he edited in +talian' and to oucault" ?e

should add that 5l tempo che resta' dedicated to Taubes' ta9es up things here the 7eish

philosopher had left them off" Seeral of *gamben>s 9ey concepts had already been outlined in

Taubes3 the hMs m$of ( Cor 5324 $Taubes (444b' 68"(04)' the &aul


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+n his*omo sacertrilogy' *gamben intends to unmas9 the hoa! of modern politics' hose model is

not the city' i"e" the State founded on la and discussion' but the concentration camp' i"e" the State

founded on e!ception and suspension of the la" He thus dismisses both democracy and

totalitarianism as unsatisfactory3 *uschitA only reealed the logic of a system hich' since the

Second ?orld ?ar' has gron more perfect" @o longer e!ercised by citiAen sub1ects' poer ise!ercised upon an ob1ect' life na%edand reduced to the silence of refugees' deportees or the

banished3 that of an homo sacer# hose biological body is e!posed' ithout mediation' to the

action of a force of correction' of imprisonment' and of death"# $%relet et al. (444' emphasis

added)" The e!pression*omo sacer' sacred man' thus designates the ob6ect of this modern antis messianic3 the &uritan

or9 ethics in ?eber $84s title and procedure stress urgency:there is too little time to comment on the

hole letter:e discoer along the ay that his structure in si! days# and a conclusion titled

ornada# also relate to temporality" n the one hand' e hae a nod at the E W (# biblical

arithmetic' the time of creation and the time of rest' hich allos a 9ind of recessed consideration

of the hole time of creation" Saturday is not a day li9e the others but rather -. the messianic


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recapitulation and abbreiation of history and creation# $(8F)" n the other hand' this structure is

that of a redundant poetic form hich *gamben analyAes and hich is supposed to be the model of

messianic temporality $(80s style of e!position hich' from one chapter to the ne!t relentlessly

repeats the same intuitions' but ith different shadings or utterances"

Theses

*gamben>s oerall ob1ectie is to restore the ,pistles of &aul to their status as the fundamental

messianic te!t for the ?est"# $4) ?here Taubes scarcely e!plained hat he meant by the termmessianic' e!cept in reference to the history of 7eish mysticism' *gamben>s boo9 e!plores this

term methodically" The seen theses that + comment on correspond to the order of the chapters in

the boo9"

(" The messianic perspectie erases identity3

a) n the one hand' christis a title and no longer the proper name of 7esus Christ" *ccording to the

author' this is an unDuestionable philological conclusion $):no polemical or 7udaiAing pre1udices

intended $88)3 Christology does not interest him' but rather the meaning of the ord christos,


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messiah $8F)" his preliminary thesis ma%es it possible to eamine Romans through the messianic

prism. +gamben, while 6ustifying his reading of christos in a functional sense, is very well aware

that he is going against the consensus in Pauline research. -ow, his argumentation is too rapid,

eegetically spea%ing, and this has a measurable theological impact. 5n the logic of Romans, can

the title of /essiah and the person of the 'rucified be dissociated so easily7 Nbviously, thisquestion is always open to re@eaminationIfor any number of different motives, even if only out of

defiance towards the D- $%rudmann et al.(45). *owever, it is obvious that christos designates

someone who has some of the traits of the /essiah, but who at the same time eplodes this

category. +nd if 'hristologists li%e /oltmann (/oltmann 011) have wanted to re@messianie &esus

in ways which resemble those of +gamben, this is not without its problems" the hiatus eisting

between christ and 'hrist is perhaps the gap which founds 'hristology (:t@+rnaud 011J). ?e that

as it may, where aubes is content to stress the &ewish nature of faith in 'hrist, +gamben proposesto us a messianic without a /essiah.

b) Moreoer' the free man Saul has become the slae of Christ; he no has only one messianic

name' &aul' and no identity:he can then become the model of the modern messianic sub1ect" This

prepares the ay for the second thesis"?ut this slave without identity, can he not also become the

model of the non@sub6ect of biopolitics, i.e. of the prisoner in the concentration camp who has only

a number tattooed on him by his guards7 *ere we touch on one of the problems of +gambens

political position" 5snt the messianic a flight from the problem7 (relet et al. 0111) What is the

difference between the no@sub6ect of +uschwit and the messianic sub6ect7 + partial response to this

ob6ection will be found in theses 3 and G.

2" The messianic ocation is the reocation of all other ocations and the suspension of all

identities" The ord %l$tos' at the heart of Rom (3(' is also the piot of *gamben>s interpretation

hich analyses at length the or9ing of %l$sisin ( Cor 53 (5 is only the use and messianic ocation of the old one"# $6) -.

ocation calls to ocation itself' the former is li9e an urgency or9ing and holloing the latter from

ithin' cancelling it to the ery e!tent that it holds its on and abides there"# $) Messianic faith

does not enision salation as an unrealiAable impotential# utopia' hich ould imply acting as if

it ere true" @either does it enision salation as the ineluctable necessity of hat is to come"


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@either does it feed on resentment against the orld" Messianic faith enisions salation instead as

an e!igency for this orld no" To repeat the ords of Ben1amin' it -Nthe messianic sub1ect.

contemplates salation only to the e!tent that it loses itself in hat cannot be saed"# $52)

+gambens sub6ect without identity has something in common with the sub6ect of ?adiouI

notwithstanding the quarrel between the two men. 5t is also with this sub6ect that +gamben repliesto the ob6ection raised above concerning a flight from the biopolitical problem. his sub6ect can

destroy the system without replacing it, by living what this system demands that we live otherise3

ma%ing use of everything while possessing nothing legally. he almost mystical nature of this call

which is called only to be called againB is fascinating. 8rom this perspective, could we not rethin%

'hristianitys eschatological hope, which is too often lived in a mood of indeterminate

postponementI thus as unrealIor, worse, in a mood of resignation7 8inally, what would happen if

we applied this intuition to a specific /essiah who, against all epectations, also made himself aslave, renouncing the messianic vocation even as he assumes it7 Qven more scandalous" a /essiah

having been condemned to the infamy of the cross and cursed by the !aw, who thus becomes the

*omo sacer7 5t would be ironic to have 'hristology use the idea of a philosopher who wants

nothing to do with the /essiah.O4

8" &aul is not the founder of uniersalism $65


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identity7

" +n correlation ith thesis 23 messianic time is a nun %airos:this moment of infinite Duality

hich' being apart and bac9 from the chronos of history' ma9es it possible to apprehend history and

gie it meaning" The %airos is a contraction of the chronos" +t is the time that time ta9es to come to

an end; the time e hae left; the time that e are ourseles $((2


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Rom (03 Es thin9ing" *mong others' here is the reading he gies of the first thesis of Sur le concept

d>histoire# $Ben1amin 2000b' 25s ally' the source of his politicalphilosophy' is thus the *postle" *ere, theologians should perhaps beware of +gamben who,

following ?en6amin, requisitions the Pauline tet. /oreover, this finale displays a dual pretension"

since ?en6amin has understood Paul and since +gamben has understood ?en6amin, thenB

/& Reactions of a Ne Testament (cholar

+n ending this presentation' + realiAe that + hae scarcely begun to digest the rich interpretations of


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ith propositions that must seem ery strange to any reader bearing in mind the themes of current

theological interpretations3 for e!ample' Bultmann>s or9s of the La as human selfs identity mar9ers of the election of +srael" Criticism of the La thus becomes

a declaration of ar against Caesar $Taubes); emancipation from the repetition of the situation

$Badiou) or a nihilistic response to the state of e!ception founding the La $*gamben)"

X Three distinct theories of the sub1ect are grafted on to these three criticisms of La" Hoeer' in

all three cases' e are faced ith a diided sub1ect3 diided by guilt $Taubes); diided by the

situationIeent dichotomy $Badiou) or diided by the sub1ect>s failure to coincide ith its identity

$*gamben)" Badiou and *gamben in particular differ in the ay they situate their sub1ect" The first

sets the sub1ect in becoming' in an unfinished process moing from the flesh to the spirit' from the

situation to the eent" The second presents it as the product of a metamorphosis and as the bearer of

a ne attitude" +f + reach for a spatial register3 Badiou places the sub1ect aboe the mYlOe ofidentities hereas *gamben sidelines it to the bac9ground" To repeat the formulas of the to

philosophers3 the sub1ect either eoles according to a nobut# dynamic $Badiou) or lies out its

condition according to the as not# logic $*gamben)"

X Badiou adopts a more indiidualistic perspectie' more psychoanalytical also" *gamben and

Taubes neer lose sight of the political and community:een communitarian:perspectie hich

is not ithout its lin9s to their attempt to re


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&ascal"

Second' + finally gae up claims as to my on scientific ob1ectiity' than9s to the omnipresent

presuppositions philosophers use in their act of reading" + recalled St" *ugustine>s Doctrina

christiana $(384 in theopposite direction" n the one hand' by attempting to say it all and burying us under hat is

becoming a mass of erudition' these commentaries no longer say anything; on the other hand' by

claiming to say it all' they forget that any act of reading alays leaes a remainder that the 9ey to

interpretation proposed has failed to see" +t is refreshing to come in contact ith rigourously

constructed interpretations that' ithout claiming to be e!haustie' go straight to the point"

ifth' as seeral sureys hae noted3 ?hat does it mean that so many secular> readers are turning to&aul/ What is being as%ed of 'hristianity, and singularly its founding documents' since the


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e!egesis being proposed claims to be neither confessional nor scientific/# $BVttgen 2002' 68; cf"

also Beaulieu (444' 85F)" Beteen canonical and scholarly readings' ould there be some place for

reading &aul as a classic/

inally and as a corollary of the foregoing point3 Ho can theology assume such a perspectie

$Romans as a classic) and receive these not strictly theological readings of a document so

outstanding in all the turning points of Christian thought oer the centuries/ ur three thin9ers

force us to reconsider certain giens of &auline studies3 the time $the delay) of the parousia'

eschatology' the 9airos' the belieing sub1ect' political commitment' redemption' the parado!ical

nature of Christian identity' etc"

But does theology really hae any choice/:if it ants to stay in contact ith the process and

genealogies of modernity ithout disconnecting from its on historicity or dissoling in an

uncritical adaptation to the orld and history"# $MVller 200(' F5)"

This opens up a or9 site3 to clearly define hat a classic is and to e!plore more in depth the

possible meaning and scope of classical criticism"-88.

Bibliography

*gamben' %iorgio" (446 $+talian (44E)"*omo :acer 0. :overeign Power and ?are !ife" Stanford'

Calif"3 Stanford Kniersity &ress"

ZZZZZZ" (444 $+talian (446)"*omo :acer . Remnants of +uschwit " the Witness and the +rchive"

@e Jor93 Qone Boo9s"

ZZZZZZ" 2000a" 5l tempo che resta " un commento alla !ettera ai Romani$Saggi)" Torino3 Bollati

Boringhieri"

ZZZZZZ" 2000b $+talian 2000)"!e temps qui reste " un commentaire de l;9pUtre au RomainsI trans"

by 7udith Reel $Biblioth[Due Riages)" &aris3 \ditions &ayot ] Riages"

*ugustine and R" &" H" %reen" (44F" +ugustine De doctrina 'hristiana$!ford early Christian


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te!ts")" !ford -,ngland. ; @e Jor93 Clarendon &ress"

Badiou' *lain" (466"!;


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ZZZZZZ" 200(" ROsister au te!te pour repenser les genres> / ,!pOrimentation hermOneutiDue ^

partir de Rm ('(6


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ZZZZZZ" (464" Sur lourage d*lain Badiou' !;Qtre et l;#v#nement"# 'ahier du 'oll$ge

5nternational de Philosophie63 225


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und 'hristoph :chulte" MVnchen3 ?ilhelm in9"

ZZZZZZ" (444a $%erman (465)" Carl Schmitt' un penseur apocalyptiDue de la contre


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-4.Goes this statement by %renholm and &atte $2000' (s line of thought/3Scripture is reelatory and authoritatie for belieers" Jet' both reelation and authority areconstructed in ery different ays in arious interpretations of biblical te!ts as Scripture"#

-(0.To simplify the references in this section on Taubes' they ill be indicated by page number inparentheses:+ am using the rench translation"

-((.The folloing samples ill gie some idea of the man and his peremptory affirmations3 $()7eish readers of &aul are gien a bad time3 Buber misses the nub of the problem; Baec9 is honestbut doesn>t hae much to say; Plausner possesses almost no religious imagination; Schoeps is onlya &rotestant $22t count $5); and*merican 7es are insolent li9e all *mericans $4); $) Rudolph Bultmann' in his naietO' has beenduped by Heidegger $(00)"

-(2.?e should add that' according to Taubes>s interpretation' Ben1amin also dialogued ithSchmitt3 The present time> $&ettseit)' an enormous abridgement of messianic time' determines theays in hich both ?alter Ben1amin and Carl Schmitt e!perience history' both sharing a mysticalconception of history hose essential message concerns the relationship beteen the sacred and the

profane order"# $Taubes (444a' (E4)" or Taubes' the eighth thesis of Sur le concept d>histoire#$Ben1amin 2000b) is an inerted response to Schmitt3 the principal notions of Carl Schmitt are hereintroduced' reor9ed' and turned into their opposite by ?alter Ben1amin# $Taubes (444a' (E6)"

-(8.7" Taubes proposes an understanding of Rom ((3 2Ft use ,!od 883(4 Duoted in Rom 43(F to confirm this approach hich is essentialfor him" @o' this passage eo9es the theophany granted to Moses as %od>s positie response to the

prophet>s intercession in faour of his people"

-(5.To simplify the references in this section on Badiou' they ill be indicated by page number inparentheses" The author proposed a shorter ersion of his boo9 in an article $Badiou 2000)"

-(6.or an initiation to the thought of Badiou in ,nglish' see QiAe9 $(446' 2000:ery critical ofBadiou) and Sedofs9y and Badiou $(44)"

-(4.The thesis that mathematics is ontology has the doubles on by habit' cannot leae the e!egeteindifferent"# $=uesnel (444' 26)" See also $@eusch (444' ouga 200l)" The latter is' to my9noledge' the only theologian to hae underta9en a true dialogue ith Badiou on the Duestion ofthe sub1ect hich he' for his part' perceies as a person loed independently of his Dualities and

acts" +t is' so to spea9' a matter of reinterpreting 1ustification by faith" ouga stresses the apocalypticconte!t of the reelation for the human being' placing him in the company of Taubes"

-2(.n the situation of current culture' Badiou>s analysis both connects ith and contests that of


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Lyotard" To counteract the dominant poer of neoliberalism and its unifying metanarratie#Lyotard proposes a return to a pluralism of iepoints and a serialiAation of their respectienarraties" See Lyotard $(454)"

-22.&asolini transposed &aul into the conte!t of the Second ?orld ?ar3 &aul is a man in the ichyrOgime $N&harisees)' a collaborator ho' stationed in &aris $N7erusalem) pursues members of theresistance $NChristians)" Guring a mission to conince the supporters of ranco not to ta9e inrefugees' he encounters his road to Barcelona $NGamascus) and becomes a member of theresistance" His engagement ill lead him to a dire defeat in Rome $N*thens) and @e Jor9 $theRome of today) here he ill be assassinated" @o' despite this contemporary setting' the te!t ofthe script is oen almost e!clusiely from passages lifted holes letters

-28.opological dynamics, topology, topological systemtranslate here the Lacanian ord topique"

-2.The figures of discourse in Lacan are3 the master $the La)' the hysteric' the uniersity' and theanalyst $Lacan (44()"

-2F.There is an implied ordplay in rench3 La rOsurrection -le rel$vement. n>est pas la rel$vede

la mort" # *lso' rel$verefers to the Hegel>s+ufhebung"-2E.To simplify the references in this section on *gamben' they ill be indicated by page numberin parentheses:+ am using the rench translation" ?e can gie a fe e!amples of the erudition hedisplays there' Duite apart from the philosophical domain3 reference to Cerantes $2()' to theDigestof 7ustinian $compared to the almud' 80


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oerstepping of the la3 messianic anarchy"

-88.This essay is part of my research on!ire Romains au6ourdhui' funded by the %oernment of=uebec>s8onds qu#b#cois de la recherche sur la soci#t# et la culture $formerly C*R) and by theSocial Science and Humanities Research Council $SSHRC) of the %oernment of Canada" + ouldli9e to than9 my research assistants Sylie &aDuette and \ric Bellaance for their help"

Taubes, Badiou, Agamben

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