David, who I tagged (once upon a time, in a land far far away), has tagged me back. Apparently he thinks that after two years my list might have changed. Quite so.
Actually, over the last couple of years I have spent less time in theology and more time studying literature and philosophy: though, it must be said, I am ready to return to theology. However, my revised list may not be the “most influential books ever,” but these are some books (and thinkers) that I am mulling over right now.
1. John Milton: “Paradise Lost.”
When I first read this (over two years ago) I did not like it. But Milton is dealing with some serious theological ideas. Specifically, I have thinking about the role of language after the Fall and how that Fallen language changes the ways we relate to each other.
2. Louis Althusser: “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”
Perhaps Althusser stands in here for a whole school of thought that I have been thinking about: The Frankfurt School. This text is particularly pessimistic about “culture,” but Althusser most clearly describes the process in which we are shaped by “culture:” we are “always already interpolated as subjects.” That is, and to borrow from Heidegger, we find ourselves thrown into a culture, and find ourselves as having been shaped by it.
3. Dick Hebdige: “Subculture: The Meaning of Style”
Along similar lines as above, I have been thinking about how sub- and counter-cultures interact with the “mainstream” culture. The reason should be clear: on the whole, the church functions like a sub-/counter-culture in the societies in which it find itself. Hebdige thinks about how artifacts of a culture are re-invested with meaning by a counter culture, thus allowing a counterculture to distance itself from the “mainstream.” It seems to me that Christianity in America has been largely been overwhelmed by the values of the “mainstream,” and if we are to distance ourselves we have to act thoughtfully in order to make that distancing representative of our beliefs to those from which we are distancing ourselves.
4. Giorgio Agamben: “Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life”
So, part of being “Post-whatever” is distancing ourselves from the Enlightenment. One of the most enduring legacies of the Enlightenment is Humanism: the belief that humans have intrinsic values, are fundamentally equal, and have “inalienable rights.” Much good has come from this belief, to be sure. But, strictly speaking, its not quite biblical. Agamben is wrestling with just how we are to think about humans as we leave Humanism behind. And we are, like it or not. Much of Christian theology, also, in the last couple of centuries have assumed Humanism: they did not need to defent their humanism, nor, probably, even thought much about it. But now, a Christian Anthropology needs to cease riding on the coattails of the enlightenment.
5. Wendell Berry: “Home Economics”
This book pretty much stands in for all of Wendell Berry’s work. As you may know, I have been concerned about “ecology:” How we live on God’s earth. My concern, partly thanks to Wendell Berry, has been widened beyond simply “conservation;” it has been widened toward sustainable communities.
What I am reading now:
I am reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” somewhat half-heartedly, and also De Lubac’s “Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture.”
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