Adorno and Theology

Christopher Craig Brittain

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780567261083
• eBook ISBN: 9780567542168
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

Theodor WiesengrundAdorno (1903-1969), the German sociologist and philosopher was one of the intellectual leaders of the post-war Frankfurt School. This book presents and analyzes Adorno's writings on theology and religion in a clear and accessible manner. It is targeted at upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students, and will not presuppose any familiarity with Adorno.The book includes a general introduction to Adorno's thought, and examines his relationship with the work of Walter Benjamin and Jewish theology, his confrontation with scientific positivism (Karl Popper), and his criticism of the "Culture Industry" and ideology. All of these topics are explored with attention to how they engage with contemporary debates within theology. This is accomplished by bringing Adorno's work into dialogue with major concerns and authors. The volume concludes by highlighting an often neglected aspect of Adorno's writing - his philosophy of music - and how this aesthetic appreciation of the sublime informs contemporary theological reflection.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction Adorno and Theology?
• 1 Materialism, Theology and the Dialectic of Enlightenment
• 2 Actuality and Potentiality: On Kant and Metaphysics
• 3 Social Science and Metaphysical Experience: Negative Dialectics as Crypto-Theology?
• 4 Inverse Theology: Bilderverbot and the Illumination of Non-identity
• 5 Politics, Liberation and the Messianic
• 6 Religion and the Culture Industry: Spirituality, Rational Choice and the Theology of Correlation
• 7 Hymns to the Silence
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index