The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic? (Short Circuits)

"What matters is not so much that ?i?ek is endorsing a demythologized,disenchanted Christianity without transcendence, as that he is offering in the end (despite what hesometimes claims) a heterodox version of Christian belief."--John Milbank"To put it evenmore bluntly, my claim is that it is Milbank who is effectively guilty of heterodoxy, ultimately ofa regression to paganism: in my atheism, I am more Christian than Milbank."--Slavoj?i?ekIn this corner, philosopher Slavoj ?i?ek, a militant atheist who representsthe critical-materialist stance against religion's illusions; in the other corner, "RadicalOrthodox" theologian John Milbank, an influential and provocative thinker who argues thattheology is the only foundation upon which knowledge, politics, and ethics can stand. In TheMonstrosity of Christ, ?i?ek and Milbank go head to head for three rounds, employing animpressive arsenal of moves to advance their positions and press their respective advantages. By theclosing bell, they have not only proven themselves worthy adversaries, they have shown that faithand reason are not simply and intractably opposed. ?i?ek has long been interested in theemancipatory potential offered by Christian theology. And Milbank, seeing global capitalism as thenew century's greatest ethical challenge, has pushed his own ontology in more political andmaterialist directions. Their debate in The Monstrosity of Christ concerns the future of religion,secularity, and political hope in light of a monsterful event--God becoming human. For the firsttime since ?i?ek's turn toward theology, we have a true debate between an atheist and atheologian about the very meaning of theology, Christ, the Church, the Holy Ghost, Universality, andthe foundations of logic. The result goes far beyond the popularized atheist/theistpoint/counterpoint of recent books by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others.?i?ek begins, and Milbank answers, countering dialectics with "paradox." Thedebate centers on the nature of and relation between paradox and parallax, between analogy anddialectics, between transcendent glory and liberation. Slavoj ?i?ek is a philosopher andcultural critic. He has published over thirty books, including Looking Awry, The Puppet and theDwarf, and The Parallax View (these three published by the MIT Press). John Milbank is aninfluential Christian theologian and the author of Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reasonand other books. Creston Davis, who conceived of this encounter, studied under both ?i?ekand Milbank.