Att tro att man tror på en religion utan religion. Om Jacques Derridas och Gianni Vattimos postmoderna bekännelser

Abstract

The aim of this article is to highlight the «theological tum» of two of the most prominent postmodern philosophers of today, French philosopher Jacques Derrida and Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo. In recent years both philosophers have published texts in a confessional form. In 1991 Derrida published Circonfession, a poetical text written as a paraphrase on Saint Augustine’s Confessions. Five years later Vattimo published Credere di credere, a short essay treating the return of religion both in his own life, and as a wider cultural phenomenon. In the first two parts of my article, I examine the theological position of each philosopher on the basis of the respective text. My aim is to bring into focus the way the question of God is articulated. In the last part I undertake a comparative analysis of the two theological positions. My argument is that the Levinas inspired, and strongly transcendent concept of God that is articulated by Derrida overcomes the impasse that a postmodern theological thought faces with Vattimo’s immanence oriented, and in a way rather modern concept of God.