Saint Paul and Contemporary European Philosophy

Offers a new systematic account of the philosophical potential of Saint Paul's letters. Shows the present-day philosophical importance of the letters of the founder of Christianity. Argues that important ontological problems concerning dualism, nihilism and the event appear in an unexpected light when read through a Pauline lens Shows a new philosophical appraisal of the Pauline conception of faith in terms of an art of living Offers a new systematic approach to the intriguing present-day philosophical turn to the Letters of Saint Paul in the works of Heidegger, Taubes, Badiou, Agamben and Zizek Discusses how Saint Paul allows philosophers to rethink the notions of law and community giving rise to a new type of political philosophy The re-examination of Saint Paul's letters in contemporary European philosophy is one of the most important developments at the crossroads of philosophy and theology today. In discussion with a range of authors contributing to this movement, including Heidegger, Badiou, Agamben, and Taubes, Gert-Jan van der Heiden offers a new and systematic account of the philosophical potential of these letters. He does so by uncovering a dialectic of exception, which revolves around the Pauline notions of the outcast and the spirit. Against a general tendency to understand the significance of Paul in politico-theological terms alone, van der Heiden focuses on the ontological potential of Saint Paul's letters by elucidating what they imply for our thinking about (non-)beings, world, event, time, exception and spirit. Ultimately, he shows how this dialectic implies a new understanding of being and thinking and gives rise to a new art of living, both ethically and politically.