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Postmodernity and ProclamationBy: Tim O'Connor

SYNOPSIS

In which there is a discussion on methodology and the

difficulties that arise in the merging of postmodernity with

theology. There is further, an appraisal of the alienation of

the other through the exemplary reading act of the church,

and then of the other, face to face. The other is shown to

be inaccessible and yet the tendency is to commodify, to

totalise the other. The way through is shown to be in

privileging the singularity of the face to face event.

Discussion then considers the way in which one should

love the other and it is shown that even though Jesus is the

model of exemplarity, his way cannot become minewithout a totalising of the other. There is further, an

exploration of sacrificial giving, even to the point of death,

in the consideration of love for the other. Finally, in order

to maintain the singularity of the event, the decision for

the other ought to begin with undecidablility and it is

determined that proclamation is the way in which theotherness of the other can be honoured.


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Play : The space in which meaning is deferred because that which is signified is not implicitfrom that which it differs. Herein lies thetension, knowing that language is carnal, it is

part of the fall and cannot be that which itshould, and yet the demand on it is that it be,

and precisely so. There is no grace here. For the redeemed, those that accept the Logos , thatvery word which eternally and with veraciousintentionality signifies the transcendent, thatword which suffered to stand in the place of,are free to play . Play therein; and should youconsider a thing as you read, do not consider itcame by chance. That which you think of inthe reading is yours to play with, in as much,you have been placed in the field of play ;know therefore that the play has begun. Acharacter perhaps without a script, anddecidedly the author is dead; neverthelessthere is a part for you to play .


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1. 1[1] The other is not a new idea. Plato wrote about it and since then its

presence , its matter of being present in history; its trace has been recorded by

the likes of Lacan, Levinas and Derrida .2[2] It is difficult therefore to ascertain

what it means, as it necessarily remains under erasure , its remains therefore

can be said to be undecidable .3[3] That is not to say that it cannot mean, that it

cannot remain, or even that its meaning is indeterminate , it is rather to say that

within the other there is room for play . To argue that the meaning of the other

can be delimited by methodology, or to use a similar term, context, to argue

that context will determine the meaning of the other so that something

substantial might be referred to in reference to the other, would be to assert

that meaning does not rely on that which it differs from and that which it

defers to, and as Derrida has shown, that is not the case .4[4]

2. Should then we dispense with methodology? Perhaps not, we still have our

games to play, however the point is that our methodologies no longer

substitute for foundations. Although they are often allowed to function as

1[1] There are no headings or subject divisions to this essay, it thereby negates the need for a contents page. Perhaps then it does not correspond with convention. Nevertheless, in paying full homage to thefar-reaching effects of postmodernity, my choice is to point to the way a text positions you to makemeaning by limiting some of the frames conventionally used to facilitate this. For an example of an

essay written in this style see Young III, W.W., God and Derrida's Politics: At the Edge of Exemplarity. [http://www.jcrt.org/archives/01.1/index.html?page=young.html].2[2] T. Van Pelt, Otherness. [http://www.press.jhu.edu/demo/postmodern_culture/10.2vanpelt.html].3[3] J. Milbank, The Ethics of Self-Sacrifice. [http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9903/milbank.html].4[4] There are at least two levels of meaning in this sentence: Firstly, it is certainly feasible that themeaning of the concept referred to as the other can be more narrowly determined by context and so inthis sense the meaning of the other can be delimited, it cant be determined, but it can be delimited.Secondly, the meaning of the signifier other is dependent on that which it differs from and that whichit defers to (its differance ) and cannot be determined by context because that context is itself dependent on an infinite chain of signifiers continually differing from and deferring to an endless stringof other signifiers. Thus, its meaning is in a continual state of slipping away and therefore it remainsundecidable. That is not to say it cannot mean, but rather that it cannot mean determinedly and of course, there are implications to this. These two levels of meaning in this one sentence provide an

appropriate analogy to show the conflict that exists between theology and postmodernity: very bluntly,the former deals most often with concepts and so believes that meaning can be determined adequatelythrough context and on this basis, methodologies can be constructed, whereas, the second deals withlanguage. The difficulty is that theology also deals with language and so until it also begins to accountfor a postmodern understanding of language it will continually end up with the ground slipping awayfrom underneath it, (possibly already indicated by the attention which is given to the construction of methodologies and on which there is very little consensus, even from within the field see N.Ormerod, Introducing Contemporary Theologies: The What and the Who of Theology Today. p 39)and that is because dealing with language is a more fundamental game than is dealing with conceptsreferred to by language. An understanding of what it is we do when we use language must precede anunderstanding of what it is we do when we do theology. Interestingly, postmodernity is also veryconcerned with what it is that we do when we read texts, when we make meaning from them. Theencroachment of this postmodern occupation within theology can possibly be seen by the increasing

attention given to hermeneutics. The increased attention of this discipline within theology suggests that postmodernism has already encroached into the question of what it is that theologians do when they aredoing theology?


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foundations they are foundations in name only; they are not foundations on

which anything of substance can be made explicit. Such foundations require

further foundations to justify and/or validate the laying of the foundation that

went before it. There is no end to this point. In its place there is a tearing

away, a stripping of privilege, a levelling of relations of which power is but

one. In this sphere is the other .

3. Even so, the constraints of a discipline such as theology, whether they are

contemporaneous or otherwise, whether they are actual or otherwise, are said

to exist. To this end it serves to accept some sort of delimitation, some sort of

defining of the way language will be used and of how key concepts are to be

understood, and of how this information stands in relation to any number of

other types of theology, in other words, some sort of methodology. However,

to situate a discussion of Postmodernity and Proclamation within a

theological context is in itself a merging, or a blurring of these boundaries and

from which a number of problems arise since it is characteristic of

postmodernity to level the interdisciplinary barriers that once facilitated the

process of establishing methodologies. 5[5]

4. If postmodernity, amid whatever else it can be said to be, can be said to be a

reference to the amalgamation of current thought that emerges from

philosophy, critical literary studies and cultural studies then the first problem

concerns the fact that philosophy is unwilling to accept a merger with these

other disciplines. 6[6] Philosophers assert that the way of thinking, the way of

using language and the specific type of language that is used within the

discipline of philosophy is distinctly philosophical in nature. 7[7] A

philosophical methodology is distinct. There is an element of thought however

in postmodernism that is want to suggest that these assertions have no real

substance and should therefore be disregarded. 8[8] Much of the writing that can

be classified as postmodern deliberately cuts across these boundaries, creating

a bricolage ;9[9] such writing is difficult to decipher and refuses to be neatly

5[5] G.A Phillips, Exegesis as Critical Praxis: Reclaiming History and Text From A PostmodernPerspective. (Semeia, 30; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 30.6[6] S.J. Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism. (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1996), 139.7[7] Grenz, 139.8[8]

J. Derrida, Roundtable Discussion with Jacques Derrida.[http://www.hydra.umn.edu/derrida/vill1.html].9[9] Grenz, 21.


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categorised. Since this is an ongoing and unresolved debate in the context of

postmodernity, used in this sense, there is the need for entering in, the need for

engagement with this debate, with some sort of attempt made at clarification,

that is if a methodology is to be of some value and for it to have some validity.

5. There is in addition, the dilemma that arises from the schism that emerged in

modernism between philosophy and theology. 10[10] Since the particular

reference to postmodernity in this discussion takes place within a theological

discourse it necessarily bridges the disciplines of philosophy and theology.

This precipitates the necessity of specifying the method by which the rules of

language and logic from each of these disciplines is to be treated. 11[ 11]

Reference might now be made to a philosophical theology, or perhaps even a

theological philosophy. Ormerod suggests that theology involves a systematic

study of revelation whereas he asserts that philosophy starts from human

reason. 12[12] This perhaps marks the preliminary discussion for both the former

and the latter, accepting that there is indeed a distinction between the two.

Further discussion that suits the purposes of this paper requires that both these

distinctives be taken into consideration.

6. As an aside and with specific reference to theology, Ormerod says that he

cannot hope to put forward some definite conclusion as to the present

consensus in regard to methodological questions, since there is none. 13[13]

However, if it were necessary to posit the concept of revelation into a

theological methodology, as Ormerod believes it is, then the completion of

this act would necessitate the inclusion within this methodology of an

understanding of the same within the context of postmodernity. This is

10[10]

D.R. Griffin, God and religion in the Postmodern World: Essays in Postmodern Theology. (NewYork: State University of New York Press, 1989).11[11] Bloechl comments that this does not mean that there can be no theologising in response to

postmodern thinking, but it does mean that such an exercise can not occur according to postmodernrulesIt is important to see that, thought through to the end, postmodern thinking itself leads to theidea that it is in irreducible conflict with theology. Indeed, the fact that postmodern thinking rests onthe unusual category of difference places it at extreme odds with most, if not all other fields. In the caseof theology, this situation has been clouded by the recent use in postmodern philosophy of ostensiblyreligious concepts, a gesture at least as confused as the theological appeal to radical difference. Aconcept may look remarkably similar in two distinct contexts, but when cast in light of two distinctcategories or sets of categories it is bound to receive two distinct meanings as well. Bloechl, J., Havewe Need of Invoking Identity and Difference in Theological Discourse?[http://home.apu.edu/~CTRF/articles/1999_articles/bloechl.html].12[12]

N. Ormerod, Introducing Contemporary Theologies: The What and the Who of Theology Today.(E.J Dwer), 3913[13] Ormerod, 39.


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because up until the advent of postmodernity all theological methodologies

have been modern theological methodologies (or premodern depending on

how far back one goes). Methodologies generally have not been referred to or

categorised as modern because up until the advent of postmodernity this prefix

has not added any significance to the meaning of the term, but in every sense

of the word they have been delimited in this way. With the advent of

postmodernity there is the need for the formulation of postmodern theological

methodologies. If this elemental ingredient is not factored into the equation

then the very methodologies that were designed to provide significance if not

legitimacy to theological discussion now make the same obtuse and irrelevant

in a contemporary setting. 14[14] To not engage in a dialogue with postmodernity

in the construction of theological methodologies is to misunderstand the

significance of the fundamental shifts in thinking that have occurred in

postmodernism, 15[15] and results in theology looking a bit like the emperor who

thought he was wearing clothes.

7. Finally, if postmodernity can be said to be everything that characterises and

even encompasses the cultural shift referred to as postmodernism, 16[16] it can

also be said to contain an understanding that deconstruction, which in some

ways depicts postmodernity, is a matter:

of collapsing all genre distinctions, especially those between philosophyand literature, language and literature, reason and rhetoric, language in itsconstative and performative aspects. 17[17]

The implication of which, negates the need for methodology, or at least of the

sort of methodology that might characterise modern theological writing.

Therefore, within the context of this present discussion, the suggestedconclusion is that the delimiting of a theological methodology that suits the

references of this paper is beyond the scope of this paper; indeed it is

suggested that it is beyond any scope. Therefore, within the context of this

paper, the latter reference to postmodernity will be adopted 18[18] and which

14[14] Phillips, 31.15[15] Phillips, 26.16[16] Phillips, 21.17[17]

C. Norris, C., Whats Wrong With Postmodernism? (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990), 49.18[18] This is despite Norris argument that this reading of Derridas idea of deconstruction, made popular by Rorty and others, is a misreading of Derrida. Norris, 50.


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would indicate that the need to establish the types of methodologies that have

been suggested is summarily and justifiably dispensed with. 19[19] Nevertheless

there is still the question of what can be said outside the restraints of a

traditional methodology and accepting that something will be said; the

dilemma remains as to how this is to be read and in what manner should it be

made to mean. 20[20] Consequently, that anything can be said is perhaps open to

dispute. This then is the perfect position from which to begin a discussion of

postmodernity and proclamation.

8. The institution exists to lend to the act of reading its exemplarity and its

diffusion. Thats what an institution does. 21[21] The Bible is read in an

exemplary way, it is read exemplary by an authority, it is read authoritatively

by an exemplary, and people understand the example. Then it is said at the end

that to know Christ and/or his way you should read the Gospels, or perhaps

one might also say any such other part of the Bible. That is what it is to read in

an exemplary way whether it is said or not, it is how it will be understood. 22[22]

It is then extremely difficult to challenge this exemplary discourse of the

reading act as it is posited within the church institution. 23[23] To read this way

silences the other . In this case, it may silence the Holy Spirit; and it

foregrounds the sense of tradition. Tradition cannot be abrogated, perhaps

because one cannot extricate ones self from ones tradition. Rather tradition

will necessarily inform, it is the informant that cannot be silenced and which

ideally should be acknowledged, it may not be reckoned with but it will

continue to inform exemplarity . Such is the present state of play .

9. But that is not to say that there can be no moment, that there can be no point in

time, but rather there remains the possibility of the event where the word is

incarnated, pierces perhaps to the division of soul and spirit, and becomes life.

It is in this moment where the other can be faced. It is the moment where the

19[19] Perhaps thereby, in the process there is a methodology after all, a Claytons methodology themethodology you have when you have dispensed with the need to have a methodology, whatever thatis.20[20] These questions are fundamental to postmodernism and often concentrate on how the productionof particular reading will privilege some and marginalise others.21[21] Adams, H., Behler, E., Birus, H., Derrida, J., Iser, W., Krieger, M., Miller, H., Pfeiffer, L.,Readings, B., Wang, C., Yu, P., Roundtable Discussion : J. Hillis Miller's "Humanistic Discourse andthe Others."

[http://pum12.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/vol4/miller.html].22[22] Adams (et al), www.23[23] Adams, (et al), www.


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veil that separates, which is always in the process of being taken away, no

longer separates. This moment does not necessitate recognition, nor is it

exclusive to it; it does however facilitate it and it is therefore noted. It is

recognition only; it is not an encompassing of the other , for that would be

violence and although the kingdom may suffer such it will not serve to suffer

the other . Caputo shows that this is because:

the whole idea of the wholly other ( tout autre ), of the infinitely other,is that the wholly other is, at its core, in principle inaccessible, so that noteven an infinite amount of time spent in contact with the other ego will

bridge that gap. 24[24]

10. According to Levinas, this gap cannot be crossed, not only because it isunethical, but also because it is something that cannot be done. 25[25] In arguing

that there is no bridge by which this gap can be crossed, Levinas suggests that

it does violence to the other to try. 26[26] This assertion is made by Levinas

based on a Husserlian grasp of phenomenology. Derrida also arrives at the

same point in his more recent applications of deconstruction. So because I

exist in a phenomenological interior or a logocentric one and the other is

exterior to me:

I have no originary access to the alter ego as such . That is why he/she isthe other. This separation, this dissociation is not only a limit, but it isalso the condition of the relation to the other, a non-relation as relation...anon-intuitive relationI dont know who the other is; I cant be on theother side .27[27]

11. The relation to the other is a relation to the wholly other, not in the sense that

the two are unrelated, this would break the relation, but in the sense of being

related to something that absolutely resists being absorbed by and drawn into

this relation without retaining the presence of otherness .28[28] Instead, this

relation to the other must be considered and then affirmed and ideally, it

should be honoured. This honouring of the other is for Levinas and Derrida

the condition of love. 29[29] It is the way one loves the other and in this respect it

24[24] J.D. Caputo, For Love of Things Themselves. [http://www.jcrt.org/archives/01.3/caputo.shtml].25[25] Caputo, www.26[26] Caputo, www.27[27]

Caputo, www.28[28] Caputo, www.29[29] Caputo, www.


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is suggestive of the way in which a Christian should love one (an) other . But it

is necessary not to leave this moment to chance.

12. However, this next step is problematic. The naturalising tendency is to want to

institutionalise an approach to the other . It is the way of modernism. It is

problematic though, in that it effaces both the self and the other . Each time

that I choose the other , I imply that I try to demonstrate that it is an exemplary

choice. 30[30] I am in the process of institutionalising this act when all I have to

explain myself are generalised motives, generally good reasons. 31[31] The

significance of the singularity is in its relationship to the very otherness of the

other and of the self, the otherness of the self if you like, and it is in contrast

to the generalised actions of the commodified subjective self. It is the

knowledge, the awareness, indeed the very motivation that in each action I do

that which only I can do; I do that which no-one else can do. I cannot do just

anything, I can only do what I can do, and it is in this knowledge, in this

signature event that there is negotiation between pure and simple singularity

and exemplarity fellowship if you like, communion with the other .32[32]

13. To clarify, it is first necessary to determine, in respect to the other , why

anything other than singularity in action does violence to the other . Levinas

suggests an answer in his discussion on totalisation . The conception of the

other , the very idea in its essence, the essence of which is the idea, is limited

by it being just that. The concern is that these conceptions substitute the

presence of the other; in a similar way that logocentricism assumes that a

signifier substantially refers to that which is signified. This, Levinas suggests,

is violence and denies the other his/her autonomy .33[33] This act of totalisation

necessarily limits the other to a set of rational categories, be they racial,

sexual, or otherwise. Beavers comments that this:

totalisation is a denial of the other's difference, the denial of the othernessof the other. That is, it is the inscription of the other in the same. If ethics

presupposes the real other person, then such totalisation will, in itself, beunethical. 34[34]

30[30] Adams, www.31[31] Adams, www.32[32] Adams. www.33[33]

A.F. Beavers, Emmanuel Levinas and the Prophetic Voice of Postmodernity.[http://cedar.evansville.edu/~tb2/trip/levinas_intro.htm].34[34] Beavers, www.


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14. The difficulty with exemplarity is that it is generally the case, not just for the

one, but also for the other, indeed it is necessarily the case. Derrida identifies

this dilemma when he asks:

What is happening when someone comes to describe a supposedlysingular 'situation' by bearing witness to it in terms which go beyond it, ina language the generality of which takes on a value which is in somesense structural, universal, transcendental or ontological? When the first-comer implies: 'What goes for me, irreplaceably, goes for everybody?Substitution is in progress, it has already operated, everyone can say thesame thing for and about themselves .35[35]

Consequently, in an almost paradoxical way there is the marking of an event

as singular but at once there is the slipping away of its singularity in the same

structures that identified it. If the way toward the other is in the face to face,

that is in the event of singularity , then to remain pure to this ideal would

require breaking with all the structures that constitute personality, which

Derrida notes:

is strictly impossible: for an event even to take place as an event, it mustalready compromise its singularity with the conditions of recognisabilitythat take the form of structures of repeatability or iterability .36[36]

15. At this juncture, the call for an inaugural event in relation to the other is an

impossible demand. Derridas best practice then is that the trace of the attempt

at such an improvisation, necessarily failing, can be read as a promise of such

inaugurality. Benningtons observation of Derrida in this instance is that:

we may not ever be able to perform something radically inventive but wecan in some sense think and even call for something radically inventive. 37[37]

This then is the call for improvisation and which is not as eradicable as it may

seem. It is because in recognising the event as singular, as inaugural, then even

though it constitutes exemplarity , it is only recognised in consideration of the

event . The event itself has slipped away; it is already under erasure and even

the examination of it, the identification of generalised principles and its

35[35] G. Bennington, Seulemonde Conversation with Geoffrey Bennington.

[http://www.cas.usf.edu/journal/bennington/gbennington.html].36[36] Bennington, www.37[37] Bennington, www.


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universal structures does not warrant its applicability nor for that matter, its

replication. There is also the case that in the reading of the event that it can be

deconstructed , it is not logocentric and assignment of meaning is dependent

on its differance . There can be instead the singular assimilation of generalised

principles, and it is this assimilation that constitutes the possibility of the

event . In the final analysis, it is the other ; the undecidable originary other that

facilitates the possibility of singularity and it is in proclamation, the

interchange of one to the other on which this singularity rests.

16. This preliminary discussion facilitates correspondence of a theological nature

where a question of similar proportions, in which is the same play , might be

asked: What should we do when we come face to face with the other ? The

simple and Biblical answer is that we should love the other ; (John 15:12)

inherent in this is the idea of singularity . However what defines a loving

action is more complex. Again, one approach from a biblical perspective is the

suggestion that the way to love the other is to do to the other what it is that we

would want her/him to do to us. (Mark 12:33) However on closer interrogation

this maxim presents further difficulties, which become more explicit in the

consideration of one such event. Consider my wife. When she is feeling

emotionally low she likes nothing better than to have all my attention and to

be warmly held, however when I am feeling the same way, I prefer to be left

alone. To complicate matters however, neither my wife nor myself always feel

this same way, it might be a generalisation that we do, but it is no more than

that, sometimes we (mis) behave in different ways. So, if I act toward my wife

the way I would want her to act toward me in the way that is general, then it is

likely that not only am I not loving her I might in fact be hurting her. This

signature event shows that loving someone cannot be defined simply by an

appeal to the maxim: Do unto others, as you would have then do unto you.

The question then remains: What should we do when we come face to face

with the other ?

17. A further suggestion is to do what Jesus would do. If it is acceded that Jesus is

the epitomic way then it must also follow that his action, every action, is an

exemplary action, and therefore an action that defines what love is. 38[38] What38[38]

This argument identifies itself as belonging to a (fundamental/evangelical) Christian reading of theBiblical account. Perhaps this is what a postmodern theological methodology will look like. It is not somuch in the way that the author of the text defines the way the text should be read, but it has all more


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then shall we look at when we look at Jesus? The most obvious answer is to

the cross, but since this is the singular event extraordinaire it perhaps

surpasses the commonplace interactions, nevertheless it does serve in

principle, if it is principles that are to be derived from this exemplary action.

Irrespectively, if we further take the Biblical account, each of Jesus actions

may be defined in terms of what love is, and so there cannot be any singular

event that is exemplary because every action is different, and yet at the same

time every event is exemplary because every event is different. 39[39] Consider

Jesus. His loving actions consisted of calling the religious authorities

hypocrites (Mark 7:6) and whitewashed sepulchres (Matthew 23:27); it

consisted of telling other religious authorities that they were of their father the

devil (John 8:44); it took the form of making a whip and driving people out of

the Temple (John 2:15); it involved angrily searching the faces of those who

placed the law above the need of the individual as in the case where Jesus

healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, and in this instance it

included breaking the law (Mark 3:5). All these actions, as has been

determined, were actions of love. They were then exemplary actions, but it is

apparent, from the multiplicity of different actions that there cannot be any

(pre)determined loving actions taken from this account and generalised to

another event. Is it not the case then that the answer to the question what

would Jesus do? should not determine what I should do? The question

however still remains, what should we do when we come face to face with the

other ?

18. Again, Biblical reference suggests specifically and generally that there is no

greater love than that of a woman or man laying down her/his life for that of

to do with the way the reader makes meaning from the text and consequently positions this meaningwithin some type of framework of their own understanding. Because the writer has no way of determinedly facilitating this conceptualising on behalf of the reader then the text itself, in its entirety

becomes the methodology by defacto. The writer cannot determine how his/her text will be read, nor by whom. Methodologies presume an implied reader. Consequently the construction of traditionalmethodologies can be thought of as masking ideologies, privileging and sustaining a select few asmuch as they can be thought of facilitating the making of meaning in the reading process.39[39] To suggest that a singular event cant be exemplary seemingly contradicts what has already beensaid; however the contradiction serves to highlight the indeterminacy of the signifier love. So, eventhough every event is exemplary, it is not the exemplary loving event. This tension of being and not-

being has to be grappled with because although both accounts seem to contradict each other taken on

their own, there still remains a rightness about each one. As was stated before, a signature event is aone off event however it still contains exemplary notions within it. It is not a case of either/or but rather

both/and.


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another, the other (John 15:13). Specifically, this reference is perhaps an

attempt at being decidedly determinate in regard to greater love. An

appropriate aside at this juncture concerns the approach taken by Levinas and

Derrida; both of who agree with this statement but in reference to its

greatness adds the proviso that there can be no resurrection, that there is no

God (as in the way a Christian would understand God). 40[40] Both Derrida and

Levinas agree that the highest ethical gesture is a sacrificial selfoffering

which expects no benefit in return and which must contain the willingness, if

not the expectation that it may end in death, for it to be a pure sacrifice. 41[41]

Milbank shows that the reason Levinas and Derrida do not accede to a

resurrection is that:

the only real gift is one that expects no countergift in return. Unless agift is in this fashion sacrificialthe giving up of somethingit isargued, a gift reduces to a hidden contractual agreement, governed by a

principle of selfinterest; and actions out of selfinterest. 42[42]

19. The hope of resurrection will necessarily make the gift, the offering of ones

life, an action governed by self-interest since it includes the will to power.

Levinas argues that it is only death in its unmitigated reality that permits the

ethical, while the notion of resurrection contaminates it with selfinterest. 43[43]

Resurrection will always reward the giver. Milbank contests the purity of the

gift suggested by Levinas and Derrida arguing that for the gift to be truly

disinterested, the giver of his own life must not be able even to imagine the

future pleasure of its recipients. 44[44] Therefore, from this position Milbank is

able to show that the giving of the pure gift is not possible; that there can be

no such thing as a truly disinterested gift. Milbanks contention is that to

sacrifice ones self without the hope of resurrection cannot be the best possible

action for the other because:

in order to fully aim for the good, even the sacrificial offering of oneself must sustain the hope of ones own ultimate redemption. I myself am

40[40] Milbank, J., The Ethics of Self-Sacrifice.[http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9903/milbank.html].41[41] Milbank, www)42[42]

Milbank, www.43[43] Milbank, www.44[44] Milbank, www)


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unique and irreplaceable; without oneself, as without anyone, theuniverse would have lost something good .45[45]

The death of the self in a world without resurrection is a negation of the self

and therefore an obliteration of the otherness of this self and therefore resiststhe greatest good. Nevertheless, Derrida and Levinas insistence on the purity

of the gift is indicative of the regard in which they hold the other . It is their

condition of love.

20. The significance of this juncture is that Derrida, Levinas and the last biblical

reference all suggest that the giving of ones life for the other is the greatest

love. This, as has been suggested, is also the Biblical answer to the question:

What should we do when we come face to face with the other ? If this is the

answer, and in most situations this statement will not mean literally, although

the implication is that there must remain the continual openness toward the

possibility that sacrifice may constitute a sacrifice that ends in death, the literal

death of ones self, the question then becomes What should I do if I am to

sacrifice myself for the other, when I come face to face with the other?

21. Returning to Jesus, his life was exemplary, but cannot be for me in so far as

what he did, what Jesus did when he came face to face with the other , was

what only he could do. If I determine to replicate his exemplary actions,

exemplary though they may be; if I am guided or governed by what it is I

think it is that he would do, then when I come face to face with the other , I

have generalised the other , indeed the otherness of the other has been effaced.

When I come face to face with the other , it is my way and it is this being mine

that bears upon me in the moment of my decision. 46[46] It is a moment of

responsibility in the face of what appears to be undecidablility . However the

idea behind undecidablility has never been to inhibit decision making, but

instead to raise the intensity of the decision, the responsibility for the

decision. 47[47] In discussing Derridas position, Edgoose reiterates that:

45[45] Milbank, www.46[46] There is a tension at this point because in one sense there will never be a way that can be said to bemine, in the sense that I am only a product of the totality of my experiences and which predetermine (inone sense) the outcome of that decision. Paradoxically it is this same history that makes the decisionmine, which makes it unique to me. Again, seeing the sense in which it is both/and rather than either/or

assists the working through of this tension.47[47] J.D. Caputo, and E. Wyschogrod, Postmodernism and the Desire for God: An Email Exchange.[http://www.crosscurrents.org/caputo.htm].


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a decision that didn't go through the ordeal of the undecidable would not be a free decision, it would only be the programmable application or unfolding of a calculable process. It might be legal; it would not becaring. And once the ordeal of the undecidable is past (if that is possible),the decision has again followed a rule or given itself a rule, invented it or reinvented, reaffirmed it, it is no longer presently fully caring. 48[48]

22. In a general sense people want to know how they should act. It is this moment

of undecidablility, of not knowing, that protects the otherness of the other . It

is humility and a sacrifice of self to the other . Coming face to face with the

other is fraught with negotiation. There is no guarantee in the to and fro of

conversation, of proclamation, that there will be neat edged closure. The

ambiguity of the Said fails to provide stability. Meaning is displaced and

outcomes are uncertain.49[49]

Levinas argues that:

the ambiguity of language fails to satisfy the desires of speaker andlistener for stable agreed meaning and mutual recognition. The content of speech - the Said - strives for universality and solidity. Yet, in the failureof that striving, the Saying is revealed - conversations continue and arenot discreet exchanges of information. 50[50]

It is this ambiguity, this dependence on the other , and a mutual dependence,

which makes the event singular and which protects the otherness of the other .

It is in this very characteristic of speech; of proclamation, its refusal to be non-

negotiable, its undecidablility and its unconfinable aspect that Levinas claims

there is hope. 51[51] What then should I do if I am to sacrifice myself for the

other , when I come face to face with the other ? I should make a decision to

speak.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

48[48] J. Edgoose, An Ethics of Hesitant Learning: The Caring Justice of Levinas and Derrida.[http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-Yearbook/97_docs/edgoose.html].49[49]

Edgoose, www.50[50] Edgoose, www.51[51] Caputo & Wyschogrod, www.


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Adams, H., Behler, E., Birus, H., Derrida, J., Iser, W., Krieger, M., Miller, H.,Pfeiffer, L., Readings, B., Wang, C., Yu, P., Roundtable Discussion : J. Hillis Miller's"Humanistic Discourse and the Others."[http://pum12.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/vol4/miller.html].

Altany, A., The Christian Sacred: Absence, Ambiguity and Paradox.[http://www.Quodlibet.net ]. Beavers, A.F., Emmanuel Levinas and the Prophetic Voice of Postmodernity.[http://cedar.evansville.edu/~tb2/trip/levinas_intro.htm]. Beavers, A.F., Introducing Levinas to Undergraduate Philosophers.[http://cedar.evansville.edu/~tb2/trip/levinas_intro.htm]. Bennington, G., Seulemonde Conversation with Geoffrey Bennington. [http://www.cas.usf.edu/journal/bennington/gbennington.html]. Bloechl, J., Have we Need of Invoking Identity and Difference in TheologicalDiscourse?[http://home.apu.edu/~CTRF/articles/1999_articles/bloechl.html]. Caputo, J.D., For Love of Things Themselves.[http://www.jcrt.org/archives/01.3/caputo.shtml]. Caputo, J.D., and Wyschogrod, E., Postmodernism and the Desire for God: An EmailExchange.[http://www.crosscurrents.org/caputo.htm]. Derrida, J., Des Tours De Babel. (Semeia, 34; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991). Derrida, J., Roundtable Discussion with Jacques Derrida.[http://www.hydra.umn.edu/derrida/vill1.html]. Edgoose, J., An Ethics of Hesitant Learning: The Caring Justice of Levinas andDerrida.[http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-Yearbook/97_docs/edgoose.html].

Gal, F., Myth and Reality of the Pluralism or Otherness as a Stigma.[http://www.gplusg.cz/cz/archiv/articles/pluralism.htm]. Glowacka, D., Scarificing The Text: The Philosopher/Poet at Mount Moriah.[http://www.mun.ca/animus/1997vol2/glowack1.htm]. Grenz, S.J., A Primer on Postmodernism. (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1996). Griffin, D.R., God and religion in the Postmodern World: Essays in PostmodernTheology. (New York: State University of New York Press, 1989).


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Hankey, W.J., Re-Christianizing Augustine Postmodern Style: Readings by JacquesDerrida, Robert Dodaro, Jean-Luc Marion, Rowan Williams, Lewis Ayres and JohnMilbank .[http://www.mun.ca/animus/1997vol2/hankey1.htm].

Kavka, M., The Rationality of Derrida's "Religion without Religion": APhenomenological Gift for John D. Caputo.[http://www.jcrt.org/archives/01.1/index.html?page=kavka.html]. Leahy, D.G. The Originality of Levinas: Pre-Originally Categorizing the Ego.[http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cont/ContLeah.htm]. Lye, J., Difference.[http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/diffr.html]. McKenna, A.J., Derrida, Death and Forgiveness.[http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9703/mckenna.html]. Milbank, J., The Ethics of Self-Sacrifice.[http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9903/milbank.html]. Moore, S.H., Era and Epoch, Epoch and Era: Christian Intellectuals in thePostmodern Turn.[http://www.hope.edu/resources/csr/XXVI2/moore/].

Norris, C., Whats Wrong With Postmodernism? (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf,1990). Ormerod, N., Introducing Contemporary Theologies: The What and the Who of Theology Today. (E.J Dwer). Phillips, G.A., Exegesis as Critical Praxis: Reclaiming History and Text From APostmodern Perspective. (Semeia, 30; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990). Sichel, B., Beyond Moral Stories.[http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-Yearbook/96_docs/sichel.html].

Young III, W.W., God and Derrida's Politics: At the Edge of Exemplarity.[http://www.jcrt.org/archives/01.1/index.html?page=young.html]. Van Pelt, T., Otherness.[http://www.press.jhu.edu/demo/postmodern_culture/10.2vanpelt.html]. Volf, M., Krieg, C., & Kucharz, T., (Eds.) The Future of Theology: Essays in Honor of Jurgen Moltmann. (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1996).


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