THINKING ABOUT FIRE; DERRIDA AND JUDAISM

This paper examines Derrida's ambiguous relationship to his jewish background, focusing on the motifs of writing, witnesing and circumcision. Whilst Derrida does not situate himself within a living Jewish tradition, his use of such motifs is part of a strategy of unsettling the borders of philo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shakespeare, Steven (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press 1998
In: Literature and theology
Year: 1998, Volume: 12, Issue: 3, Pages: 242-255
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Summary:This paper examines Derrida's ambiguous relationship to his jewish background, focusing on the motifs of writing, witnesing and circumcision. Whilst Derrida does not situate himself within a living Jewish tradition, his use of such motifs is part of a strategy of unsettling the borders of philosophical discourse They help to articulate an ethical impulse at the heart of deconstruction Although Derrida is criticised in this paper for potentially reducing categories like ‘Judaism’ and ‘holocaust’ to empty, ahistorical ciphers, it is argued that his motivation is to open philosophical and theological discourses to a real engagement with an irreducuble ‘other’.
ISSN:1477-4623
Contains:Enthalten in: Literature and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/litthe/12.3.242