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'Messianicity' in Social Theory? A Critique of a Thesis of Jacques Derrida

University of Leeds, a.harrington{at}leeds.ac.uk, University of Erfurt, Germany, austin.harrington{at}uni-erfurt.de

Jacques Derrida's vision of 'messianicity' in his book Specters of Marx and the essay 'Faith and Knowledge: The Two Sources of "Religion" at the Limits of Reason Alone' has been widely appreciated by scholars. Yet little fundamentally critical engagement appears to have been made with some important historical-sociological questions raised by Derrida's ideas in these texts. Drawing on earlier reference-points in 20th-century critical theory and sociology, the present article argues for some objections to Derrida's presentation of the significance of religious messianism in modern Western social and political thought. The central claim defended is that Derrida invidiously marginalizes some important non-messianistic idioms, sources and traditions of thinking about religious history and its bearing on contemporary social and political self-understanding.

Key Words: chiliasm • Derrida • messianism • theology and social theory • utopianism

Thesis Eleven, Vol. 98, No. 1, 52-68 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0725513609105483


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