Reading Forgiveness in a Marrano Idiom

Abstract

This chapter offers a reading of Jacques Derrida’s concept of forgiveness, in relation to what he and Jean-Luc Nancy call “the deconstruction of Christianity.” Against a certain powerful tradition of the Enlightenment, which extends from Voltaire to Heidegger (including Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche), Derrida and Nancy argue that it is not possible today to speak from a position that is purely and simply disenchanted from what is called religion, and in particular, from an experience of faith. This audacious claim does not, despite appearances, mean the abandonment of all critical and deconstructive vigilance with regard to the metaphysical heritage of Christianity (and/or monotheism in general) but rather, I argue, a deeper, more responsible way of addressing it. In this chapter, I identify the specificity of Derrida’s concept of forgiveness with the reference to the tradition of Marrano ‘Jews,’ with which he explicitly identifies. In other words, by articulating his concept of forgiveness (pardon) in terms of the gift (don), Derrida thinks in the language of Christianity something quite different from what Christianity has up until now has thought forgiveness to be.