One Time Traverses Another

Benjamin’s “Theological-Political Fragment”

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51359/2357-9986.2024.260513

Keywords:

Walter Benjamin, nihilism, political, theological, violence, transience

Abstract

In this essay, Judith Butler provides a substantial response to and development of the paper of Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky, also included in the volume. The essay focuses on Deuber-Mankowsky’s claim that Butler “incorporate[s] the divine into life itself and, in so doing, make the divine into a purely immanent feature of the world.” Through an articulation of the “Theological-Political Fragment,” Butler demonstrates the problematic situation of anything immanent (should we oppose it to the transcendent), and ultimately locates the link between the destruction of legal violence in the hyphen of “theological-political.” This destruction, or de-constitution, of power structures is put forward as the kind of nihilism that is referenced in the last line of Benjamin’s Fragment.

References

BENJAMIN, Walter. “Critique of Violence”. In: Reflections. Tradução: Edmund Jephcott. Nova York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1978, 297–298. [Ed. Bras.: “Para a crítica da violência”. In: GAGNEBIN, J. M. Escritos sobre mito e linguagem. Tradução: Ernani Chaves. 2ª. ed. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2011.]

BENJAMIN, Walter. Teses sobre o conceito de história. In: LÖWY, M. Walter Benjamin: aviso de incêndio: uma leitura das teses sobre o conceito de história. Tradução: Wanda Nogueira Caldeira Brant, [tradução das teses] Jeanne Marie Gagnebin. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2005.

BENJAMIN, Walter “Theological- Political Fragment”. In: Reflections. Peter Demetz (ed.). Tradução: J. Jephcott. Nova York: Schocken Books, 1978, p. 312–313. [Ed. Alemã: “Theologisch-Politisches Fragment”. In: Zur Kritik der Gewalt und andere Aufsätze. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1965, p. 95] [Ed. Bras.: “Fragmento teológico-político, In: O anjo da história. Tradução: João Barrento. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2012, p. 23-4]

Published

2024-07-10