Deconstructing God : a deconstructive perspective of religion

Abstract

This dissertation aims to explore Derrida' s ideas on the current state of religion, and on the possibility of a universal religion. This is achieved by first submitting his essay entitled "Faith and Knowledge: the Two Sources of "Religion" at the Limits of Reason Alone' to a close reading in an attempt to uncover what Derrida means by religion. Here, it shall be discovered that Derrida extends the notion of religion by dislodging it from traditional or institutional conceptions of the denotations and connotations of this term - basing it instead on a waiting of the corning other (person) we do not know. Then, in the second chapter, the thesis explores the main issues related to Derrida's understanding of religion, focusing in particular on the notion of religion without religion. Here we will see how Derrida seeks to move beyond language, culture or belief - as this is commonly understood, to celebrate a new religion that dreams of the unknowable beyond and of the impossible. In essence, this dissertation therefore aims to unveil the meaning of Derrida's religion without religion, and the idea that every other is wholly other (tout autre est tout autre).