After Christianity

What has been the fate of Christianity since Nietzsches famous announcement ofthe death of God? What is the possibility of religion specificallyChristianity thr... » 

What has been the fate of Christianity since Nietzsches famous announcement ofthe death of God? What is the possibility of religion specificallyChristianity thriving in our postmodern era? In this provocative new bookGianni Vattimo leading Italian philosopher politician and framer of theEuropean constitution addresses these critical questions.When Vattimo was asked by a former teacher if he still believed in God hisreply was Well I believe that I believe. This paradoxical declaration offaith serves as the foundation for a brilliant exposition on Christianity inthe new millennium an age characterized by a deep uncertainty of opinion and a personal account of how Vattimo himself recovered his faith throughNietzsche and Heidegger. He first argues that secularization is in fact thefulfillment of the central Christian message and prepares us for a new mode ofChristianity. He then explains that Nietzsches thesis concerns only the moralgod and leaves room for the emergence of new gods. Third Vattimo claimsthat the postmodern condition of fragmentation antiEurocentrism andpostcolonialism can be usefully understood in light of Joachim of Fioresthesis concerning the Spiritual Age of history. Finally Vattimo argues forthe idea of weak thought. Because philosophy in the postmetaphysical age canonly acknowledge that all is interpretation that the real is alwaysrelative and not the hard and fast truth we once thought it to becontemporary thought must recognize itself and its claims as weak as opposedto strong foundationalist claims of the metaphysical past. Vattimo concludesthat these factors make it possible for religion and God to become a serioustopic for philosophy again and that philosophy should now formally engagereligion. «