Luther after Derrida

Abstract

This book creatively engages Martin Luther’s theology and Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction in a systematic theological enterprise. Guided by the general question of how to think about theology in postmodern times within a given tradition, Marisa Strizzi meticulously follows deconstruction at work, focusing on distinctive theological elaborations. She argues that Luther’s theology has a significant deconstructive drive and, through the thorough reading of texts, illustrates the ways in which such theology is interactive with the thought of Derrida. Intersections, echoes, and mirrors allow a happy exchange in which the vital theological topics of Luther meet key deconstructive motifs. Thus, the cross, the Deus absconditus, scriptura, fides, gratia and Christo encounter khōra, écriture, the gift, faith, the messianic and autoimmune sovereignty. Strizzi solidly sustains that the deconstructive reading of theological traditions proves to be a critical constructive way of honoring them.