Category Archives: secularity

Fanon, Said, and the attack on the Christian World

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Tim McGee

In a chapter on Edward Said and secularism, Gil Anidjar ends with the startling claim that one should not understand Said as a proponent of secularism but instead as an anti-Christian thinker. To summarize a constellation of arguments I frequently … Continue reading →

Posted in Edward Said, fanon, religion, secularity | 8 Comments

Secular Dogmatics? (Continuing thoughts on Fanon as Theologian)

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Tim McGee

At the beginning of his enormous Church Dogmatics, Karl Barth argues that theology can and should consider itself “a science.” As someone shaped by interdisciplinary studies, I found myself a bit suspicious–who cares if it is “a science?” Nevertheless, Barth … Continue reading →

Posted in barth, colonialism, faith, religion, secularity, theological method | Leave a comment

Reading Fanon as a Theologian

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Tim McGee

As should be clear, I think Fanon’s writing are theologically relevant, not just in the sense that he offers criticisms theologians need to address but also that he offers a trajectory–intellectual, social–that theologians should follow. I’ve been rereading some sections … Continue reading →

Posted in barth, fanon, religion, secularity, theological method | 4 Comments

Writing, Not Blogging (still more on religion and death)

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Tim McGee

Why do we adore The Slaughtered Ox? Because without our knowing it or wanting it, it is our anonymous humanity. We are not Christ, never Christ…no I will not speak of this. –H. Cixous I have not been blogging but … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, barth, bonhoeffer, Césaire, cixous, colonialism, ecclesiology, ethics, fanon, feminism, foucault, race, religion, secularity | 2 Comments

A Misbegotten Child? Christianity, Postmodernism, and the Secular State

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Tim McGee

Modern Continental philosophy is very much the misbegotten child of theology, indeed a kind of secularized theology; even at present its governing themes everywhere declare its filiation….There are theologians who believe theology has something to learn from and contribute to … Continue reading →

Posted in art, atheism, Césaire, cixous, colonialism, Derrida, ecclesiology, history, politics, race, religion, secularity, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How the Church Lost Power (thoughts on some reviews)

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Tim McGee

A couple of recent books–one reviewed on The Other Journal and one reviewed on Per Caritatem–seem to develop what is now becoming a commonplace argument in theological circles.  In the effort to revitalize a kind of Christian politics that is … Continue reading →

Posted in colonialism, ecclesiology, race, religion, secularity, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The Promise and Failure of "the Secular"

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Tim McGee

One of the strange features in the Milbank article discussed in my previous post was his mention of the necessity to physically defend “the physical space” of the church “in the name of secular justice.”  This surprising endorsement of “the … Continue reading →

Posted in colonialism, milbank, missions, religion, secularity | 1 Comment

The Secularity of the Word (Barth, Summary of I/1, §5)

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Tim McGee

Invariably, then, faith is acknowledgment of our limit and acknowledgment of the mystery of God’s word, acknowledgment of the fact that our hearing is bound to God himself, who now leads us through form to content and now from content … Continue reading →

Posted in barth, secularity | Leave a comment