Resources for Understanding Jacques Derrida




PARIS - World renowned thinker Jacques Derrida, a founder of the school of philosophy known as deconstructionism, has died, the office of French President Jacques Chirac said Saturday. Derrida was 74.

AP and AFP have obits on Derrida. Also see treatments by the Washington Post and the New York Times (free registration required on both).

A few of us have commented recently that the emergers don't talk that much these days about postmodernism. This may bring a bit of a revival of that, albeit a brief one.

For those who might wish to explore Derrida's influence on the emerging church, some time ago, I had put a few resources on faithmaps' Philosophy/Postmodernism Page on Derrida. I just updated that section in light of this event. You might see especially:

Derrida, Jacques
from The Johns Hopkins Guide
to Literary Theory & Criticism

Jacques Derrida
by John Rawlings
from the Stanford Presidential Lectures
in the Humanites and Arts

Biography and Bibliography
of Jacques Derrida
by Scott David Foutz
from Quodlibet, the online journal of
Christian Theology and Philosophy

Derrida & Deconstruction: Key Points
by Warren Hedges
from the Website of Prof Warren Hedges @
Southern Oregon University

Structuralism/Poststructuralism
by Dr. Mary Klages
from http://www.colorado.edu/

You might also find very useful the book

Derrida for Beginners by Jim Powell

in the delightful British Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book series. (I have a number of these books and think they're great!)

I also had begun reading John D. Caputo's Deconstruction in a Nutshell: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida and need to pick it back up.

In terms of references, finally I'll mention that in 2002 Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering Kofman directed a documentary called Derrida, which New York Times Reviewer Elvis Mitchell characterized as "adoring and adorable" (free registration required).

I also briefly tease out ways Derrida's thought might helpfully impact theological reflection in the second article of my Delights and Dangers series that Next Wave published three years ago.

Finally, though the 'mappers thinking was mediated through much discussion and the substantial influence of dr. jon gold, I think it's safe to say that Derrida was an influence on us when we were developing the transpropositionality meme. Derrida helps us to see that words as mere logical symbols are not to be confused with intrinsic reality. The implication for people of faith is that we musn't confuse mere information acquisition and transfer with true religiosity. There is a fullness of relationship with God that words cannot encompass.