The Messianic Disruption of Trinitarian Theology

by Kornel Zathureczky

Overview

The unsettling context of late modernity, a terrain of an infinite fragmentation of life, poses a challenge to Christianity to rearticulate its defining doctrine of the Trinity. Christianity's initial messianic weakness—in that its canonical writings attest to a universal message of redemption for the victims of Empire—was subverted into the strong theology of the Empire. This book demonstrates that Trinitarian discourse was profoundly implicated in this development as it essentially absorbed and took the bite out of the messianic language of the early Christian movement. Zathureczky proposes a retrieval of the messianic discourse of Christianity by way of recapturing its redemptive weakness. Relying on an elective affinity between Walter Benjamin's messianism and Jürgen Moltmann Trinitarianism, he attempts to recapture the "weakness" and fragility of the language of the initial messianic impulse of the Christian community. The resulting "weak" Trinitarianism retains the basic character of Christianity as a Trinitarian faith, but now Trinitarian discourse about God is simultaneously messianic discourse, a language that is attuned to give voice to the damaged lives and alienating conditions of our contemporary context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739131503
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	03/16/2009
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kornel Zathureczky is assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at St. Francis Xavier University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. The Loss of the Messianic
Chapter 2. Messianic Possibilities: Moltmann and Modern Jewish Messianic Thinking
Chapter 3. Messianic Epistemology
Chapter 4. Messianic Pneumatology
Chapter 5. Messianic History
Chapter 6. Messianic Suffering
Chapter 7. Messianic Optics: Elective Affinity Between the Messianisms of Walter Benjamin and Jurgen Moltmann
Chapter 8. Trinitarian Discourse: Doxology Born of Remembrance

Editorial Reviews

Zathureczky's reflections on the Trinity in light of the Messianic address the kinds of issues that are often overlooked not only in religious studies and theology but also in studies of epistemology. His analysis, based on readings of Walter Benjamin andJürgen Moltmann, of how understandings of the world and God emerge out of tensions and from positions of the marginal is a significant contribution to cutting edge developments in contemporary scholarship....

Joerg Rieger

This book hammers home a fresh, energetic account of the challenge of the Holocaust for contemporary Christian theology. It is essential reading, deserving of vigilant reading and weighty response.

William J. Abraham

Creatively juxtaposing the thought of Walter Benjamin and Jürgen Moltmann, Zathureczky's commendable study explores prospects for a post-Holocaust Christian theology that subjects discourse about the Trinitarian God to messianic perspectives shared with Judaism. The result not only enriches Trinitarian thinking by connecting it more closely with historical remembrance and suffering, but also opens up new avenues for Jewish-Christian dialogue. I heartily recommend this book.

Thomas E. Reynolds

This book hammers home a fresh, energetic account of the challenge of the Holocaust for contemporary Christian theology. It is essential reading, deserving of vigilant reading and weighty response.--William J. Abraham, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Creatively juxtaposing the thought of Walter Benjamin and Jürgen Moltmann, Zathureczky's commendable study explores prospects for a post-Holocaust Christian theology that subjects discourse about the Trinitarian God to messianic perspectives shared with Judaism. The result not only enriches Trinitarian thinking by connecting it more closely with historical remembrance and suffering, but also opens up new avenues for Jewish-Christian dialogue. I heartily recommend this book.--Thomas E. Reynolds, Emmanuel College

Zathureczky's reflections on the Trinity in light of the Messianic address the kinds of issues that are often overlooked not only in religious studies and theology but also in studies of epistemology. His analysis, based on readings of Walter Benjamin and Jürgen Moltmann, of how understandings of the world and God emerge out of tensions and from positions of the marginal is a significant contribution to cutting edge developments in contemporary scholarship.--Joerg Rieger, Vanderbilt University; author of Christ And Empire

From the Publisher