following in zizek's footsteps, here? interesting, in any case. my first encounter with eagleton was as an undergrad reading _literary theory: an introduction_, and i recall even then, when i knew relatively little, being really irritated with the straw men he knocked down in that book, particularly wrt postmodernism. that said, his forthright marxism was also a really new thing for me, and in retrospect, probably pretty important, too.
i've warmed to eagleton over the years, and his review of dawkins last year was pretty much spot on, imo, as is this one:
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Since the War on Terror, he argues, there has been a revival of old-fashioned liberal rationalism. "Not just Amis, but Hitchens as well. There is an element of panic and even hysteria in the way that people are waving their rational credentials."
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this is interesting, too, in the context of yesterday's post of steve early's column, which i meant to respond to and lost track of in the midst of other things. maybe the liberal rationalists are actually driving eagleton back into the arms of the church, in parallel to early's feeling driven into "militant atheism" (the practical consequences of which were pretty vague in that piece) by the minority of evangelicals and fundamentalists who dominate political discourse in the US?
on the other hand, lining up parallels between marx and jesus, or between marxism (or even just activism/organizing) and religion in general (never mind christianity in particular) always makes me uncomfortable. for reasons i suspect many on this list share.
j
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"Among medieval and modern philosophers, anxious to establish the religious significance of God, an unfortunate habit has prevailed of paying to Him metaphysical compliments."
- Whitehead
http://brainmortgage.blogspot.com/