TOWARDS A POINTAL ECCLESIOLOGY: ZIZEK AND BADIOU IN THEOLOGICAL CONVERSATION
This thesis presents a survey of Alain Badiou’s ontology and theory of the “event,” including his understanding of “faithful subject,” followed by an examination of Slavoj Zizek’s materialist theology, undertaken with a view to what they can say to inform the modem Western Church. Though the thrust of their work is primarily political and ethical in nature, Zizek and Badiou will be drawn upon here to construct an outline of a “pointal ecclesiology,” by which is meant the collective fidelity of the Spirit community to a truth, point by point, in a world. While wholehearted appropriation of their work is not theologically unproblematic, an engagement with their thought proves to be enriching. TheresultisanunderstandingofnewpossibilitiesforChristianpolitical participation, Church diversity, fidelity to truth, and the collective.
Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek, event, fidelity, ecclesiology, Christianity, Church, politics, experimentation, Spirit, resurrection, death o f God, St. Paul, ethics, truth, subject, atheism, community.
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