“Why has somebody like Slavoj Žižek with his Lacanian atheism and cynicism a better purchase on the essence of Pauline Christianity? It’s because there is a tragic ground to Christianity. Tragedy and hopelessness is the prolegomena, it’s the port of entry into Christianity.”

In this episode of the podcast Secular Christ, Philosophy and Theology professor, Sean J McGrath continues his seeking for Christ in the Secular Age. This time his "case study" is the Slovenian philosopher and Lacanian, Slavoj Žižek.

McGrath views Žižek as one of today's intellectuals who best understands Christianity but also as a representative of the philosophy of (unredeemed) human poverty. A tragic philosophy without hope or redemption and which he also contrasts with the philosophy of human potentiality (See E03 A Critique of Jordan B Peterson).

McGrath discusses these themes together with Berlin based psychoanalyst Jakob Lusensky.

#Zizek #Psychoanalysis #Christianity


Contents of this video

00:00 Introduction
00:38 Žižek strikes me as one of the most important voices on Christianity
02:30 Žižek bases himself on Lacán's tragic cynicism
03:30 The essence of ideology. "Forgive them father they know not what they are doing."
04:39 Lacán is a psychologist of religion
05:10 Why does Žižek has a better purchase on Paulian Christianity.
06:35 Cynicism, stoicism, Epucuriansim...
07:25 Dostoevsky is Christ viewed from the pit
08:35 Zizek is the philosophy of unredeemed poverty
09:45 I think Zizek is essentially a cynic
10:15 Zizek is a gnostic
11:30 The "Lacanian cure" - A gnostic recipe
13:22 Psychoanalysis as a cure of (deflationary) love
14:40 Agape: Christian love is to transcend the natural logic of power
15:15 Psychoanalysis is not the end of the road
16:15 What Žižek understands about Christianity
17:12 The distinction between the sacred and profane
19:38 Christianity is the very condition for the secular world (and Žižek gets it)
21:43 If you would have Žižek here, what would you ask him?
22:40 He likes to pretend that there is a revolution to fight, but there is no where to go.

#Zizek #podcast #gnostic

Music in this episode is licensed under creativecommons.org. Artist. Xylo-Ziko Titles: Rainbow, Brook, First Light.