One of the most important thinkers of our time, Jacques Derrida continues to have a profound influence on postmodern thought and society.
Christopher Watkin explains Derrida’s complex philosophy with clarity and precision, showing not only what Derrida says about metaphysics, ethics, politics, and theology but also what assumptions and commitments underlie his positions. He then brings Derrida into conversation with Reformed theology through the lens of John 1:1-18, examining both similarities and differences between Derrida and the Bible.
Endorsements
“The Reformed community has long sought to stage a dialogue between Jacques Derrida and Karl Barth, but no one before Christopher Watkin has ever considered initiating a dialogue between Derrida and Barth’s Reformed critic Cornelius Van Til. Watkin explains Derrida’s fundamental ideas very clearly; more, he shows Calvinists some things that might be gained if they read Derrida with sympathy. Not least of all, the Bible might disclose more of its meaning.”
—Kevin Hart, Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Studies, University of Virginia
“Chris Watkin has done what I thought was impossible. He has explained Derrida’s deconstruction with lucidity, brevity, and charity. Not only that: he has imagined what it would be like for Cornelius Van Til to go toe-to-toe with Derrida in a discussion about language, logic, and the Logos made flesh, all of which figure prominently in John 1:1–18. And if that were not enough, he has done it in just over a hundred pages. Readers who want to know what all the fuss over postmodernity is about would do well to consult this book. It is an excellent beginning to this new Great Thinkers series.”
—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
“Philosopher Stanley Fish once declared, ‘Deconstruction is dead in the same way that Freudianism is dead. . . . It is everywhere.’ Christopher Watkin’s remarkable book explains better than any other the nature of Derrida’s program and the reasons for its persistence. Watkin corrects misunderstandings and caricatures. Derrida is easy to dismiss when one takes a few of his thoughts out of context. But a great deal of importance must be highlighted. The author engages in a biblical and Reformed critique, one that ‘hold[s] fast what is good,’ while identifying its evils (1 Thess. 5:21–22). Complete with helpful diagrams, the book is a tour de force. I wish I had possessed it while in graduate school.”
—William Edgar, Professor of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary
Reviews
Review at “Christian Reflections” blog:
Great Thinkers: Jacques Derrida is an excellent, accessible example of how to listen really carefully to another person’s point of view, and then engage with it fairly. For those wanting to get a grasp on what postmodernism is all about, and a guide through how to think about it from a Christian point of view, this is a great place to start. Christopher Watkin writes with great clarity, and his illustrations, diagrams and section headings all illuminate the ideas he is unpacking. For the tertiary educated reader, it is stretching without being such hard work you need to be fully awake, brow-furrowed and prepared to re-read dishearteningly dense paragraphs.
A must read for anyone interested in the intersection between Christianity and modern philosopher. And a great training tool for upcoming Christian leaders. I look forward to reading Christopher’s contribution on Michel Foucault.
Alan D Strange, Mid-America Journal of Theology (2018), 283-5.
This is a remarkable book. Truly. If one had contended before I read this book that someone could produce a clear and competent outline of the major features of the thought of so complex a figure as French post-modernist Jacques Derrida in such a brief space, I would have greeted such a claim with incredulity. Not only has Watkin admirably done so, but he’s done far more than this: to add to the first part of the book, which contains an amazing precis of Derrida’s philosophy, he has written a second. part that is a Van Tilian analysis of Derrida, a frankly breathtaking task that subjects Derrida to a presuppositional examination that engages his thought in the most fruitful biblical way that l’ve ever encountered.
This reviewer heartily commends this book to all interested in engaging Derrida and his fellows and hopes for more in this series in this vein. If others take a like approach this could demonstrate a utility hitherto untapped in Van Tilian apologetics. This is a model of the apologist as a practitioner sauviter in modo, fortiter in re.
Amazon reviews
John Pilbrow is Emeritus Professor of Physics at Monash University and a Former President of ISCAST (Christians in Science and Technology).
In part 2 Watkin seeks to bring Derrida into conversation with Reformed theology, in particular Cornelius Van Til and John Frame. Watkin is not afraid to say where Van Til and Frame misunderstand Derrida. I appreciated his critique of their reading of Derrida. The conversation he lays about is between these Reformed thinkers and Derrida on John 1.1-18. He shows how the God presented in Scripture refuses to be captured by the categories of deconstruction, and indeed finds creative and life giving ways out of the the cul-de-sacs deconstruction can sometimes lead to.
“To assume that human beings can speak adequately of God would be arrogance and hubris; to assume that God cannot speak adequately of himself would be presumption and just as arrogant” (p102). Derrida can however show us ways that we are blind to our own fallenness and to how we can domesticate God and dominate others.
Watkin shows how deconstruction provides another angle from which to see the depth of God’s grace to us in Christ.
This volume will help Christians engage with Derrida and postmodernism in general. I would be very interested to see how the convinced post-modern or simply the reasonably well read non-Christian would find Watkin’s treatment. That would take the conversation off the page and into personal exchange, something I’m sure Watkin would heartily recommend.