El. knyga: In Kierkegaard's Garden with the Poppy Blooms: Why Derrida Doesn't Read Kierkegaard When He Reads Kierkegaard

Deconstruction is justice. Or maybe not. In a provocative and yet witty book, Chris Boesel invites us to consider the problems with a deconstruction that doesnt turn its critical lens upon its own progressivism. Offering Kierkegaardian Christianity as a constructive alternative, Boesel argues that we need an actual God defined by embodied relational love if we are to go beyond mere structural logics of alterity and begin to care for the widows, the orphans, and the strangers in our midst. No one is safe from this book. But we are all better because of it. -- J. Aaron Simmons, Furman University A compelling analysis and argument for the claims 1) that deconstruction is too formal to provide any warrant for the secular, left-wing politics of Derrida and many of his admirers, 2) that Derrida is a poor reader of Kierkegaard, and 3) that properly understood, deconstruction can help a confessional Christian theology with Kierkegaardian overtones to maintain a proper humility. The form of presentation makes the reading easy and fun. -- Merold Westphal, Fordham University Boesel has managed to write a book that is at once meticulous and light-hearted, both generous and uncompromising. It makes a strong case for the confessional Kierkegaard who makes so many philosophers twitchy, forcing what one might call a genuine decision about this notoriously slippery thinker. Whether the argument delights or offends you, it will challenge and impress you. -- Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Wesleyan University