Introduction: Failing

Abstract

Whichever way you look at it, theology has failed. This chapter explores the problem of theology’s failure, placing it within the context of the linguistic turn in continental philosophy—which raises the question of language’s failure—and the problem of economy. Suggesting that Žižek’s work represents a return to the central ontological—rather than linguistic—concerns of Christian apophatic theology, this introduction sets out the overall structure of the book, which positions Žižek’s work in relation to first, the Christian mystical tradition that begins with Dionysius and second, contemporary debates about continental philosophy and negative theology. Via Žižek, it proposes a materialist model of faithfulness to the Christian tradition that is inescapably bound up with failure, with infidelity.