Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Eagleton, Terry. Reason, Faith, & Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.

Prominent British literary critic Terry Eagleton makes it very clear that he doesn't take the resurrection or God to be true but it's interesting to see him defend Christianity against critics such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens (whom he shortens to "Ditchkins" in his lectures, also the basis for the book) on the basis of logic and political belief. He's got a pretty good reading of the person of Christ so far. I just started on this so I can't say very much about it yet but I did come across a funny passage.

"Now I would be reluctant to label the account of Christian faith I have just given liberation theology. All authentic theology is liberation theology. Nor am I necessarily proposing it as true, for the excellent reason that it may very well not be. It may be no more plausible than the tooth fairy. I should add, however, that holding views like this is an excellent strategy for anyone wishing to get rid of all their friends and colleagues at a stroke, provoking as they do irritation from the secular left and outrage from the religious right. Left-wing Christians are in dire need of dating agencies" (Eagleton 32-33).

No comments:

Post a Comment