Subjectivity, Revolution, Invention

Abstract

The turn to religion in theory-and I think particularly here of the recent work by Agamben, Badiou, and Zizek on St. Paul-is potentially a great boon to literary studies. Theology matters in a way that it hasn't in a long time in philosophical debates in North America and Europe. Scholars are thinking topics of contemporary importance (subjectivity, authority, aesthetics, ethics, religion and the secular) through theological categories. Part of the reason for this rekindled interest is that theological categories provide unique lines of critique against key concepts within the liberal political and philosophical traditions. Here I will briefly summarize three such concepts.