Minimal Theologies: Critiques of Secular Reason in Adorno and Levinas

Are theology, metaphysics, and ethics outdated as modes of rigorous philosophical inquiry? Is the concept of reason now exclusively subjective or entirely illusory? Is faith possible in the aftermath of the twentieth century? In their writings, Theodor Adorno and Emmanuel Levinas suggest that after Auschwitz, one can no longer assume the presence of a divinity originating or directing the course of the world. At the same time, they contend, one must doubt the claims of rigid nihilism and lax relativism. What remains, they each argue in their own way, is a trace of a transcendent Other, whatever its nature. In Minimal Theologies, Hent de Vries analyzes, systematizes, and formalizes this idea of the Other in Adorno and Levinas, positing that theology is still possible in the modern and postmodern world, though only a theology stripped of its lofty pretensions: a theology in pianissimo, a minimal theology. Confronting the language, argumentation, and images employed by these two otherwise divergent thinkers, de Vries argues that rationality and faith can be reconciled. Offering the first extensive comparative analysis of Adorno and Levinas, Minimal Theologies also provides intriguin