Return Statements

de Gregg Lambert

Gregg Lambert examines the internal relationship between the return of overtly religious themes in contemporary philosophy over the past decade and another sense of the 'post-secular' turn that has been taking place globally following the events of 9/11. He asks how these two 'returns to religion' can be taking place simultaneously without appearing as the same horizon of the West viewed from opposing perspectives of the globe? Through a series of reflections on the 'return statements' performed by contemporary philosophers including Alain Badiou, John D. Caputo, Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy, Lambert discovers the unique sense of the term 'religion' that belongs exclusively to our contemporary perspective - a sense whose bio-political meaning is both unprecedented and foreboding.