Return Statements: The Return of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy(Incitements)

Gregg Lambert examines two facets of the return to religion in the 21st century: the resurgence of overtly religious themes in contemporary philosophy and the global 'post-secular' turn that has been taking place since 9/11. He asks how these two 'returns to religion' can be taking place simultaneously, and explores the relationship between them. Lambert reflects on statements of these returns from contemporary philosophers including Alain Badiou, John D. Caputo, Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy. He discovers a unique and forboding sense of the term 'religion' that belongs exclusively to our contemporary perspective.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction: Return Statements Sapere aude? ‘What’s Love Got to do with it?’ noli mi tangere! … ’tacitly, the caress, in a word, the Christian body’ Philosophical Fundamentalism Today Living and Dying under the Double-Horizon of the Death of God The Unprecedented Return of St. Paul The Coming Community? Conclusion: The Return Address – ‘Life itself’ Index

About the Author :
Gregg Lambert is Dean's Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University and Distinguished International Scholar, Kyung Hee University, South Korea. He is author of many previous works on Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy, including The Non-Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze (Continuum, 2002), Who’s Afraid of Deleuze and Guattari? (Continuum, 2005), In Search for a New Image of Thought: Gilles Deleuze and the Philosophy of Expression (University of Minnesota, 2012); Philosophy After Friendship: Deleuze’s Conceptual Personae (University of Minnesota, 2017) and ‘The People are Missing’: On Minor Literature Today (University of Nebraska Press, 2020).

Review :
Neither dismissively condescending nor unthinkingly reverent, Lambert's Return Statements is a stunning exploration of the return of religion in theory, philosophy and contemporary culture. The critical range of this book is remarkable; from Derrida to Zizek, Lambert provides a stylish and intelligent exploration of the various deployments of spirit for our 'post-secular' present. Gregg Lambert offers us here a fascinating series of responses—at once philosophically astute, politically and historically well-informed, and often sharply satirical—to the so-called "post-secular turn" in contemporary continental thought and its renewed interest, whether for good or ill, in questions of religion, faith, community, love, and life.