Review of the First Chapter of Caputo’s “On Religion”
As we lead up to our first Theology Book Club meeting on Caputo’s On Religion we’ll be featuring some videos, reviews, and audio regarding Caputo and his ideas to help facilitate discussion. If you have any you’d like to recommend, please email or leave a comment!
Back in 2007, the church and postmodern culture posted a review of the first chapter of On Religion. If you’re still on the fence whether you want to read this, this gives you a great introduction to the material to help you make up your mind. I began reading tonight, and was truly delighting in Caputo’s style and wit.
The chapter frames up Caputo’s definition of religion and the paradox of Godly love. His thesis: defined as the “old-fashioned, open-ended love of God”, religion may be found with or without “Religion” — institutional and determinate faith communities that open their doors to some but not all. He sets the stage by carefully describing the agonizing space in which we live straddled between the “future present” and the “absolute future”—and names “impossible” as a defining religious category. He then tours us through our hunger for God’s realm, this “kingdom of the impossible” towards the slightly sanctimonious-sounding, slightly vacuous-sounding question for which we seek the “secret” answer: “What do I love when I love my God?” the church and postmodern culture | “On Religion” by John D. Caputo
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