The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity

by Slavoj Zizek

Overview

One of our most daring intellectuals offers a Lacanian interpretation of religion, finding that early Christianity was the first revolutionary collective.

Slavoj Žižek has been called "an academic rock star" and "the wild man of theory"; his writing mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop culture in order to dissect current intellectual pieties. In The Puppet and the Dwarf he offers a close reading of today's religious constellation from the viewpoint of Lacanian psychoanalysis. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality—New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian Judaism—and then tries to redeem the "materialist" kernel of Christianity. His reading of Christianity is explicitly political, discerning in the Pauline community of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of Enlightenment like Jurgen Habermas acknowledge that a religious vision is needed to ground our ethical and political stance in a "postsecular" age, this book—with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same time indebted to the core of the Christian legacy—is certain to stir controversy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262740258
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	08/29/2003
Series:	Short Circuits
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.54(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Slavoj Žižek, a philosopher and cultural critic, is Senior Researcher in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London. He is the author of more than thirty books, including Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture, The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity, The Parallax View, The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic (with John Milbank), and Žižek's Jokes (Did you hear the one about Hegel and negation?), these five published by the MIT Press.

What People are Saying About This

Richard Wolin

With this book Žižek consolidates his reputation as the foremost intellectual gadfly of the postmodern cosmopolis. For anyone interested in the contemporary vogue of the 'theological turn' or theories of 'religion without God,' The Puppet and the Dwarf is indispensable reading...If Socrates underwent a ten-year analysis with Jacques Lacan, the result would be Slavoj Žižek.

Endorsement

With this book Žižek consolidates his reputation as the foremost intellectual gadfly of the postmodern cosmopolis. For anyone interested in the contemporary vogue of the 'theological turn' or theories of 'religion without God,' The Puppet and the Dwarf is indispensable reading...If Socrates underwent a ten-year analysis with Jacques Lacan, the result would be Slavoj Žižek.

—Richard Wolin, Distinguished Professor of History and Comparative Literature, the Graduate Center, City University of New York

From the Publisher

"With this book Zizek consolidates his reputation as the foremost intellectual gadfly of the postmodern cosmopolis. For anyone interested in the contemporary vogue of the 'theological turn' or theories of 'religion without God,' *The Puppet and the Dwarf* is indispensable reading.... If Socrates underwent a ten-year analysis with Jacques Lacan, the result would be Slavoj Zizek."—Richard Wolin, Distinguished Professor of History and Comparative Literature, the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Editorial Reviews

A witty, informative trip...both erudite and accessible...—Rick Mitchell, Leonardo Reviews—

His writing is bold, confident and contentious.

—Julian Baggini, The Philosopher's Magazine—

The Puppet and the Dwarf is Žižek's most compelling and passionate writing on Christianity to date.

—Erik Davis, Bookforum—

Quite possibly the most entertaining philosopher working today. Žižek knows how to think the unthinkable.

—Jori Finkel, Village Voice—

Slavoj Žižek may have the strongest 'brand identity'...of any cultural theorist now in the marketplace of ideas.

—Scott McLemee, The Chronicle of Higher Education—

Žižek is the first Marxist to write theology in a post-marxist, post-secular age.

—Eugene McCarraher, In These Times—

...Žižek mixes Pauline speculations with analyses of everything from G. K. Chesterton to chocolate eggs.

—Terry Eagleton, TLS—

Žižek rarely fails to entertain...

—Library Journal—

From the Publisher

...Žižek mixes Pauline speculations with analyses of everything from G. K. Chesterton to chocolate eggs.

—Terry Eagleton, TLS

Reviews

A witty, informative trip...both erudite and accessible...

Leonardo Reviews - Rick Mitchell

Žižek is the first Marxist to write theology in a post-marxist, post-secular age.

In These Times - Eugene McCarraher

Quite possibly the most entertaining philosopher working today. Žižek knows how to think the unthinkable.

Village Voice - Jori Finkel

His writing is bold, confident and contentious.

The Philosopher's Magazine - Julian Baggini

The Puppet and the Dwarf is Žižek's most compelling and passionate writing on Christianity to date.

Bookforum - Erik Davis

Slavoj Žižek may have the strongest 'brand identity'...of any cultural theorist now in the marketplace of ideas.

The Chronicle of Higher Education - Scott McLemee

...Žižek mixes Pauline speculations with analyses of everything from G. K. Chesterton to chocolate eggs.

TLS - Terry Eagleton

Marxism and Christianity, although opposed in so many ways, share an absolutism that appears quaint in these postmodern times. iek (philosophy, Univ. of Ljubljana, Croatia) is thus doubly countercultural, since the Hegelian thesis of this work is that "to become a true dialectical materialist, one should go through the Christian experience." In the first two chapters, the most accessible of the book, iek argues with sarcastic verve against some verities of contemporary liberalism. In the middle chapter, a discussion of ontology, the book rises to its acme of theorizing, a difficult climb for readers not acclimatized to the rarified atmosphere of Lacanian and Hegelian thought. In the remaining chapters, iek penetrates to the Marxist core of Christianity by radically reinterpreting traditional doctrines. His arguments are sometimes far-fetched and his interpretations of Scripture highly eisegetical (i.e., reading ideas into a text, instead of drawing meaning out). But iek rarely fails to entertain with his Nietszchean contrariness and his dazzling facility for illustrating philosophical points with apt pop culture references. Of interest to academic libraries with strong holdings in continental philosophy, religious studies, or liberal theology.-Charles Seymour, Wayland Baptist Univ. Lib., Plainview, TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal