Trained as philosopher, with emphasis on continental philosophy, I have written on Kant, Hegel, and Kierkegaard in particular, and phenomenology from Husserl and Heidegger to Derrida, Agamben, and Mouffe in contemporary thought. In theology and religious studies I am currently working on Luther, in particular his notion of the hidden God, and the entire theological tradition. I have recently written a systematic theology, to be published in English in near future
In Heidegger’s lecture on Augustine (1930), the question of time is emphasised as precondition fo... more In Heidegger’s lecture on Augustine (1930), the question of time is emphasised as precondition for his philosophical and religious confessions. Augustine identifies the distention of the self as the origin of time consciousness, “stretching out” towards the past and the future. Following this line of reasoning, Heidegger identifies the human self as narrating its own existence and thus imagining itself as being there (Dasein represented as Da-Bild in the constitution of time). The article argues that such philosophical confessions dominate the early Black Notebooks. The topos of God is thereby referred to as the most question-able, but completely unknowable place of thought after the “death of God”. However, Heidegger’s mystical confession to the future God (И) falls prey to political phantasms of contemporary apocalyptic ideology.
Abstract After the twin attacks in Oslo on July 22, 2011, the relationship between religion and g... more Abstract After the twin attacks in Oslo on July 22, 2011, the relationship between religion and global politics over the last decade appears in a different light. The Norwegian terrorist from the extreme right submits to the idea of counterjihad, which responds to the Islamist jihad. I argue that this revival of an ancient mythology of crusaders and jihadists has become the most influential political mythology of our times. However, what separates this new mythology from the old is its nihilistic tendency, deliberately constructing an ideological basis for self-destruction and the destruction of others. Still, as a motivation for cruelty it does not fall short of the templars of the First Crusade (1096-1099), massacring thousands of civilians behind the walls of Jerusalem.
In Heidegger’s lecture on Augustine (1930), the question of time is emphasised as precondition fo... more In Heidegger’s lecture on Augustine (1930), the question of time is emphasised as precondition for his philosophical and religious confessions. Augustine identifies the distention of the self as the origin of time consciousness, “stretching out” towards the past and the future. Following this line of reasoning, Heidegger identifies the human self as narrating its own existence and thus imagining itself as being there (Dasein represented as Da-Bild in the constitution of time). The article argues that such philosophical confessions dominate the early Black Notebooks. The topos of God is thereby referred to as the most question-able, but completely unknowable place of thought after the “death of God”. However, Heidegger’s mystical confession to the future God (И) falls prey to political phantasms of contemporary apocalyptic ideology.
Abstract After the twin attacks in Oslo on July 22, 2011, the relationship between religion and g... more Abstract After the twin attacks in Oslo on July 22, 2011, the relationship between religion and global politics over the last decade appears in a different light. The Norwegian terrorist from the extreme right submits to the idea of counterjihad, which responds to the Islamist jihad. I argue that this revival of an ancient mythology of crusaders and jihadists has become the most influential political mythology of our times. However, what separates this new mythology from the old is its nihilistic tendency, deliberately constructing an ideological basis for self-destruction and the destruction of others. Still, as a motivation for cruelty it does not fall short of the templars of the First Crusade (1096-1099), massacring thousands of civilians behind the walls of Jerusalem.
Excerpt from Marius Timman Mjaaland, The Hidden God (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016)... more Excerpt from Marius Timman Mjaaland, The Hidden God (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016) Thus God is hidden and incomprehensible, Luther writes as early as 1513, commenting on the passage " Darkness is his hiding-place " (Psalms 18:12). His model of thought is formed by the negative theology of Dionysius Areopagita, to whom he explicitly refers. i The passage is all about the place of the divine: on the one hand, that God is hiding in darkness, on the other, that an inaccessible light has become God's hiding place, to which a human being may ascend only by following the way of negations. God is not bound to either darkness or light; hence, the place of God is beyond this distinction. These examples follow the Dionysian pattern of exceeding beyond the common limits of reason, beyond the visible as well as the invisible, beyond being as well as non-being: " There the simple, absolved and unchanged mysteries of theology lie hidden in the darkness beyond light of the hidden mystical silence, there, in the greatest darkness, that beyond all that is most evident exceedingly illuminates the sightless intellects. " (Mystical Theology 998A-B) ii Dionysius is a common reference for philosophers and theologians in medieval Europe, an authority who comes close to the biblical authors. It is nevertheless worth noticing the way Luther adopts Dionysius in his commentaries, indicating that the query [quaerare] for God advances through negations and negations of negations; hence, God " is " neither light nor darkness, neither being nor non-being. Luther's negation of the Scholastic definitions of God is the philosophical and linguistic precondition for everything he will say and write about deus absconditus later on. Toward the end of the short text known as The Mystical Theology, this way of negations brings Dionysius into linguistic difficulties when describing the unknown Cause of all, which transcends and thus logically precedes philosophical distinctions, including the Aristotelian rules of logic, stating that things should either be classified as being or non-being and propositions should either be true or false: " It is not non-being nor being, not known as it is by beings, not a knower of beings as they are. There is neither logos, name, or knowledge of it. It is not dark nor light, not error and not truth. " (Mystical Theology 1048 A) iii How do these contradictory statements influence the rationality of Dionysius's text? Instead of taking the meaning of the name " God " for granted, it is drawn into a reflection upon the difficulties of defining its referent. Hence, intellectually grasping the ultimate referent of the linguistic and philosophical system is rendered impossible. Instead of being the answer to all questions, the name of God has itself become a question, and a way of questioning the foundations of Scholastic theology and metaphysics. iv These radical negations introduce a general doubt about the linguistic system and the Aristotelian Law of the Excluded Middle as well as the Principle of Non-Contradiction. Luther becomes increasingly skeptical of Aristotelian scholasticism in this period, and Dionysius's apophatic theology is helpful in order to open up a space for a different logic and thereby question the place of God. This place cannot be rationally identified, he concludes; it brings reason to rest in silent reverence of the Hidden One. In the Heidelberg Disputation (1518), the abscondity of God is confirmed once more, but the point of view is different: Luther describes the sovereign God who is hidden in suffering (absconditus in passionibus). The cross is identified as the specific place of hiddenness. The denials that pointed beyond the world are now drawn into the human world; the " visible " things of God are thus placed " in direct opposition to the invisible, namely, his human nature, weakness, foolishness. " v When I analyzed the Heidelberg Disputation above, I underscored the paradox, thus crossing out and subverting the principles of Scholastic metaphysics in a destruction of man and of human constructions of God. Dionysius's way of negations, referred to in the Lectures on the Psalms (1513/15), never rejected the power and superiority of the Almighty. On the contrary: This double negation of the possibility of grasping God is indirectly a confirmation of divine power. With the Heidelberg Disputation, negative theology suddenly takes a political and bodily turn, subversive in its criticism of human power, strength, and wisdom. The body is the visible site of this suffering, at once concrete and tangible, although the suffering of Christ is historically linked to a singular event of the past. Hence, the perception of anything divine in this body depends on belief; on seeing this body as a sign of the invisible (invisibilia) within the
Kierkegaard and Derrida are two of the most influential thinkers of late modernity. Without reduc... more Kierkegaard and Derrida are two of the most influential thinkers of late modernity. Without reducing the difference between philosophy and religion, they both analyze the fundamental questions of human existence: How a human being relates to itself, to death, and to God. In Autopsia, the Norwegian scholar Marius Timmann Mjaaland has analyzed texts by Kierkegaard and Derrida, focusing on their rationality as well as ontheir content. The result is a far-reaching analysis of how philosophy may approach religious topics without reducing their inherent logos to the supposed universality of human reason.
Whereas Samuel Moyn has argued that human rights represent the last utopia, sociologist Hans Joas... more Whereas Samuel Moyn has argued that human rights represent the last utopia, sociologist Hans Joas suggests that the modern history of human rights represents a critical alternative to the standard theory of secularization understood as disenchantment (Weber). In Joas's reading, human rights contribute to a sacralization of the person, not only understood as utopia, but as societal ideal. Following Durkheim, Joas understands the sacred within society as the continuous process of refashioning the ideal society within the real society. Although acknowledging Joas's critique of Weber, the author is more critical of his idealization of universal human rights and his affirmative genealogy of this ideal running back to the so-called Axial Age. He argues that the normative and formative function of human rights is better served by a suspicious genealogy of morals, taking also their problematic aspects into account, including their dependence on new forms of violence and cruelty. He concludes that a more modest and pragmatic understanding of human rights may therefore strengthen rather than weaken their authority and future influence. HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE SACRED SPACE OF SOCIETY Sociologist Hans Joas argues in Die Macht des Heiligen (2017) that by studying the place of the sacred within secular society, we may observe how it interrupts and changes society from within. Whereas many nations have constructed the nation as sacred during the 20 th century and still do so today, Joas argues that this is a false sacralization, which leads to violence, militarism, and in some cases totalitarianism. According to Joas, human rights represent an alternative to this story of the sacred nation, emphasizing universal humanitarian values and the sacredness of the person, hence also the de-sacralization of the state (Joas 2019). His argument follows along historical trajectories similar to Samuel Moyn's analysis of human rights as the last utopia (Moyn 2010), yet within a different theoretical framework. Setting out from Durkheim's understanding of the social construction of a sacred space, Joas undertakes a detailed and critical analysis of Weber's theory of secularization as disenchantment of the world. He points out that the idea that religion will gradually disappear in modern society is a narrative based on Weber's contemporary situation, yet with extremely poor historical basis. Joas has previously discussed the term 'post-secular' condition as defined by Habermas (2001) and argued that there was never such a thing as a merely secular society (Joas 2004). In his most recent book, we are offered a more complex, but also a more balanced theory of secularization and re-sacralization as an alternative to Max Weber's theory of disenchantment. The article presents and discusses the theoretical background of Joas's
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