Uncommon Friendships: An Amicable History of Modern Religious Thought

by Young, William W., III

• ISBN13: 9781556358364
• ISBN10: 1556358369
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-01
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

Uncommon Friendships explores the often-overlooked dynamic of interreligious friendships, considering their significance for how we think about contemporary religious thought. By exploring the dynamics of three relationships between important religious thinkers--Franz Rosenzweig and Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, Emmanuel Levinas and Maurice Blanchot, and Julia Kristeva and Catherine ClZcaron;ment--this study demonstrates the ways such friendships enable innovation and transformation within religious traditions. For each pair of thinkers, The sustained engagement and disagreement between them becomes central to their religious and philosophical development, helping them to respond effectively and creatively to issues and problems facing their communities and societies. Through a rereading of their work, Young shows how such friendships can help us rethink religion, aesthetics, education, and politics--as well as friendship itself.

Author Biography

William Young is Associate Professor of Humanities at Endicott College. He is the author of The Politics of Praise: Naming God and Frienship in Aquinas and Derrida (2007), and has published numerous articles on Derrida, Levinas, and postmodern religious thought.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Interreligious Friendships and Western Religious Thought	p. 1
The Star the Rays: Speech and Scripture	p. 19
Living History: Law, Holidays, and the Unnatural Time of Humanity	p. 54
The Art of Education: Cultivating Humanity	p. 84
Distant Companions: Art, Ethics, and Politics and Blanchot and Levinas	p. 121
Insinuation: Enigmas of Responsibility	p. 150
These and These are the Words of the Other: Commentary and the Infinite Conversation	p. 173
Analyzing the Soul of Religion	p. 211
Keeping Time: Music, Philosophy, and the Feminine	p. 236
The Stranger Within: Toward a Post-Analytic Politics	p. 254
Conclusion: Questioning Friendship	p. 283
Bibliography	p. 297
Index 311
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