Religion

In this remarkable volume, Jacques Derrida and Gianni Vattimo bring together some of the most significant philosophers of our time to address the nature of religion. More than a century has passed since Nietzsche provocatively proclaimed "God is dead": does this phrase adequately capture the sentiment of our time? What sense should we make of the religious revival and the return to the sacred which seems evident in the new vitality of churches, sects and religious beliefs in many parts of the world today?The contributors to this volume, which appears in English for the first time, address a wide range of questions about the meaning, status and prospects of religion. What is the significance of religion and how does it touch upon our lives and our thinking? Where do the boundaries lie between the essential traits of religion and those of ethics and justice? Is there a truth to religion, and what part has religion played in the historical development of our sense of truth?The contributors to this volume are Jacques Derrida, Maurizio Ferraris, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Aldo Gargani, Eugenio Trias, Gianni Vattimo and Vincenzo Vitiello. This volume is a valuable contribution to contemporary thought on religion, and will be essential reading for students and scholars of philosophy, theology and the sociology of religion.

* This book contains previously untranslated pieces by some of the most prominent international philosophers of our times. * One of the longest contributions to the volume is by Jacques Derrida, an extremely trendy and best-selling French author. * The essays are very topical, and will be of great interest to students and academics in philosophy and theology.

Gianni Vattimo is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Turin. Jacques Derrida is Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and holds a visiting appointment at the University of California.

Circumstances: Gianni Vattimo.1. Faith and Knowledge: Jacques Derrida.2. The Trace of the Trace: Gianni Vattimo.3. Thinking Religion: The Symbol and the Sacred: Eugenio Trias.4. Religious Experience as Event and Interpretation: Aldo Gargani.5. Desert, Ethos, Abandonment: Towards a Topology of the Religious: Vincenzo Vitiello.6. The Meaning of Being as a Determinate Ontic Trace: Maurizio Ferraris.7. Dialogues in Capri: Hans-Georg Gadamer.