Godhead and the Nothing

by Altizer, Thomas J. J.

• ISBN13: 9780791457962
• ISBN10: 0791457966
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

An eminent theologian argues that nothingness is necessary in order to fully actualize the Godhead. Eminent theologian Thomas J. J. Altizer breaks new ground by exploring the ultimate transfiguration of the Godhead as a question of the Nihil or nothingness and God. The Nihil is essential to the full actualization of the Godhead in that it fully occurs in both a primordial and an apocalyptic sacrifice of the Godhead. Virtually unexplored by philosophical and theological thinking, the Nihil is luminously enacted in the deepest expressions of the imagination, and most clearly and decisively so in the Christian epic tradition. Altizer looks at the works of philosophers and theologians such as Spinoza, Barth, Hegel, Nietzsche, and epic writers such as Dante, Milton, and Blake to ultimately posit a God that is necessarily a dichotomous God.

Author Biography

Thomas J. J. Altizer is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Chapter One The Name of God	1	(14)
Chapter Two Primordial Sacrifice	15	(16)
Chapter Three Primordial Evil	31	(16)
Chapter Four Evil and Nothingness	47	(18)
Chapter Five Evil and the Godhead	65	(14)
Chapter Six The Genesis of Evil	79	(16)
Chapter Seven The Transfiguration of Evil	95	(16)
Chapter Eight The Self-Saving of God	111	(16)
Chapter Nine The Absolute Abyss	127	(16)
Chapter Ten The Body of Abyss	143	(16)
Index	159