1. Edition - October 2008
89.90 Euro
2008. 376 Pages, Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-4051-6246-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-6246-3 - John Wiley & Sons






Sample Chapter

Detailed description
After Enlightenment: Hamann as Post-Secular Visionary is a comprehensive introduction to the life and works of eighteenth-century German philosopher, J. G. Hamann, the founding father of what has come to be known as Radical Orthodoxy.
* Provides a long-overdue, comprehensive introduction to Haman's fascinating life and controversial works, including his role as a friend and critic of Kant and some of the most renowned German intellectuals of the age
* Features substantial new translations of the most important passages from across Hamann's writings, some of which have never been translated into English
* Examines Hamann's highly original views on a range of topics, including faith, reason, revelation, Christianity, biblical exegesis, Socrates, theological aesthetics, language, sexuality, religion, politics, and the relationship between Judaism and Christianity
* Presents Hamann as the 'founding father' of a distinctly post-modern, post-secular theology and, as such, as an alternative to the 'postmodern triumvirate' of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida
* Considers Hamann's work as a touchtone of modern Jewish-Christian dialogue, in view of debates with his friend Moses Mendelssohn
* Explores Hamann's role as the visionary founder of a 'metacritical' movement that radically calls into question the basic principles of modern secular reason, and thus reprises the debate between those defending Hamann's views and those labeling him the bête noir of the Enlightenment

From the contents
Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Abbreviations.

Introduction.

Part I: The Making of a Christian Socrates.

1. Life and Writings 1730-1788.

2. The London Writings: On the Glory of Trinitarian Condescension.

3. A Typological Re-reading of Socrates: On Faith, Reason, and History.

Part II: Crusades of the Philologist.

4. Life and Writings 1760-1774.

5. Toward a Christological Poetics: A New Aesthetics of Scripture and Creation.

6. Correcting a Disciple: Hamann and Herder on the Origin of Language.

Part III: Masks and Mystery Writings.

7. Life and Writings 1775-1780.

8. The Sibyl Speaks: On the Protological and Eschatological Mystery of Marriage.

9. Fragments of an Apocryphal Sibyl: On Rational and Apocalyptic Religion.

Part IV: Metacritique of Reason, Natural Religion, and Secular Politics.

10. Life and Writings 1780-1784.

11. Hamann's Metacritique of Kant: Deconstructing the Transcendental Dream.

12. Metacritical Politics: On Mendelssohn's Jerusalem and the Modern Secular State.

Part V: A Final Journey: Hamann's Last Will and Testament.

13. Life and Writings 1785-1788.

Conclusion. After Postmodernity: Hamann before the Postmodern Triumvirate.

A Concluding Postscript to Postmodernity.

Biblical Index.

Index