Abandonment
From Blanchot’s Unavowable Community: “Dishonored or betrayed concepts do not exist, but concepts that are not ‘appropriate’ without their proper-improper abandonment (which is not simple negation)–these do not permit us to calmly refuse or refute them. No matter what we want, we are linked to them precisely because of their defection” (pp. 1–2).
Yes, yes, yes. Applied to Christianity, this means: stop claiming to unearth the “original,” “true” religion that was later (by Constantine, by Scotus, by Luther, by Schleiermacher) “betrayed.” There is no such thing as Christianity betrayed. There is only the Christianity that must be constantly abandoned (which is not simple negation)–i.e., there is only the Christianity that demands to be understood against itself, that demands attention despite and in spite of its history. Like communism, Christianity is a “possibility which, one way or another, is always caught in its own impossibility.” Like communism, Christianity can only be claimed by abandoning it.
26 May 2009 |
Comments (1)
Tags: Maurice Blanchot
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sweet
good application; the abounding ‘true’ versions of Christianity is a good example of communities of ‘work’ that attempt to produce and incarnate their own essence.
i wonder what other concepts we are inextricably tied to…