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Derrida on Religion
Key Thinkers in the Study of Religion
Edited by Steven Engler, Mount Royal College, Canada
Key Thinkers in the Study of Religion is a series of compact introductions
to the life and work of major figures in the study of religion. Each volume
provides up-to-date critical evaluations of the place and value of a single
scholar’s work, in a manner both accessible to students and useful for
instructors. Each volume includes a brief biography, analyses of key
works, evaluations of criticisms and of overall impact on the field, and
discussions of the work of later scholars who have appropriated or
extended each key thinker’s approach. Critical engagement with each
key thinker’s major works makes each volume a useful companion for the
study of these important sources in the field. Aimed at the undergraduate
and introductory graduate classrooms, the series aims to encapsulate and
evaluate foundational contributions to the academic study of religion.
This series is sponsored by, supported by the North American
Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR), an affiliate of the
International Association for the History of Religions.
Published:
Bourdieu on Religion: Imposing Faith and Legitimacy
Terry Rey
Lévi-Strauss on Religion: The Structuring Mind
Paul-François Tremlett
Bastide on Religion: The Invention of Candomblé
Michel Despland
Dumont on Religion: Difference, Comparison, Transgression
Ivan Strenski
Forthcoming:
Rudolf Otto on Religion
Gregory D. Alles
Derrida on Religion:
Thinker of Differance
Dawne McCance
First published 2009 by Equinox, an imprint of Acumen
Published 2014 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© Dawne McCance 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Notices
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience
and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods,
compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information
or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of
others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors,
contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage
to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or
otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products,
instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCance, Dawne, 1944–
Derrida on religion: thinker of differance / Dawne McCance.
p. cm. — (Key thinkers in the study of religion)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84553-275-8 (hb) — ISBN 978-1-84553-276-5 (pb)
1. Derrida, Jacques—Religion. 2. Religion—Philosophy. I. Title. B2430.484M43 2009
210.92—dc22
2008028484
Edited and typeset by Queenston Publishing, Hamilton, Canada
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
Selected works by Jacques Derrida ix
Chapter 1 Inheriting Derrida 1
Chapter 2 Biography 7
Chapter 3 Key Terms 19
Chapter 4 Key Texts 41
Chapter 5 Derrida’s Religion 81
Chapter 6 Derrida and Religion 91
Chapter 7 Legacies 105
Glossary 109
References 113
Index 119
this book is for Will
Preface and Acknowledgements
Derrida remarks in the last interview before his death, Leaning To Live
Finally, that survival constitutes the very structure of what we call exist-
ence, that: “We are structurally survivors, marked by the structure of the
trace and of the testament” (LLF 51). It is this understanding that makes
Derrida’s writing what interviewer Jean Birnbaum calls a “writing of the
inherited promise, of the safeguarded trace, and of entrusted responsibil-
ity”—a “writing of survival [survivance]” (LLF 30). This writing is affirmative,
“an unconditional affirmation of life,” and of “life more than life” (LLF 52),
never more so than when, as is the case in this interview, it is haunted by
an awaiting death. The following book, also haunted by Derrida’s death,
affirms, is an affirmative response to his work. The book introduces Der-
rida as a “key thinker” for the study of religion.
I thank my family. I am grateful to editor Steven Engler and the editing
and production staff at Equinox Press. Thanks to Amy Becker for Index
and proof-reading assistance. And I acknowledge the support of the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the University of
Manitoba, and St. John’s College.
Dawne McCance
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Selected works by Jacques Derrida
Cited by abbreviation
A Aporias. Trans. Thomas Dutoit. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1993.
Ad Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas. Trans. Pascale-Anne
Brault and Michael Naas. Stanford, CA: Stanford Uni-
versity Press, 1999.
AO Abraham, the Other. Trans. Michael B. Smith. In Ju-
deities: Questions for Jacques Derrida, eds. Bettina
Bergo, Joseph Cohen, Raphel Zagury-Orly, 1–35. New
York: Fordham University Press, 2007.
AR Acts of Religion. Ed. Gil Anidjar. London and New York:
Routledge, 2002.
AS And Say the Animal Responded? Trans. David Wills.
In Zoontologies: The Question of the Animal, ed. Cary
Wolfe, 121–146. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 2003.
AT The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow). Trans.
David Wills. Critical Inquiry 28(2): 369-418, 2002.
ATG A Testimony Given… . Trans. Rachel Bowlby. In Ques-
tioning Judaism: Interviews by Elisabeth Weber, 39–58.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004.
C Cinders. Trans. Ned Lukacher. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1991.
CC Confessions and “Circumfession.” A Roundtable Discus-
sion with Jacques Derrida. In Augustine and Postmod-
ernism, eds. John D. Caputo and Michael J. Scanlon,
28–49. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2009, Unit 6, The Village, 101 Amies Street, London SW11 2JW
