Author: Frank Ruda File Type: pdf For Badiou serves both as an introduction to the influential French philosopher Alain Badious thought and as an in-depth examination of his work. Ruda begins with a thorough and clear outline of the sometimes difficult main tenets of Badious philosophy. He then traces the philosophers throughout Western thought who have influenced Badious projectespecially Plato, Descartes, Hegel, and Marxand on whose work Badiou has developed his provocative philosophy. Ruda draws from Badious oeuvre a series of directives with regard to renewing philosophy for the twenty-first century. For Badiou continues the interrogations of its subject and raises new materialistic and dialectical questions for the next generation of engaged philosophers.**ReviewNow that materialism has become common academic coin, it is time to take a hard look at the various current forms materialism takes and what, if anything, they retain of its contestatory value. Assuming this critical task with wit and lucidity, Frank Ruda also delivers here a highly compelling account of the work of Alain Badiou, not only one of our foremost philosophers but a rigorous, if paradoxical, defender of materialist dialectics.--Joan Copjec, Brown UniversityAlain Badiou is scorned by liberals, reviled by reactionaries, and mocked by fake radicals. Now more than ever, Badiou is a philosopher worth fighting for. Frank Rudas For Badiou, defends Badious achievement with exemplary passion and verve. This is a necessary book.--Ray Brassier, American University of BeirutCritically following on the tracks of Alain Badiou, Frank Ruda, one of the most incisive European thinkers of the new generation, passionately argues for a renewal of philosophy, displaying a rare courage of thought and an overwhelming power of ideas.--Mladen Dolar, University of Ljubljana Ruda displays a mastery of different arguments in various contexts which span across Badious writings . . .a decisive contribution to contemporary debates in materialist philosophy. --Parrhesia . . . the breadth of Rudas engagement with Badiou is impressive. This is a beautifully synthetic book, in many regards an exemplar of a close textual reading of a philosopher and his interlocutors. --Radical PhilosophyAbout the Author FRANK RUDA is an interim professor of philosophy at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and a visiting lecturer at Bard in Berlin.

Author: Robert Langs File Type: pdf The first in-depth psychoanalytic study of the Old and New Testaments, Beyond Yahweh and Jesus centers on Gods role in enabling humans to cope with death and the anxieties it evokes. Yahweh is seen as tending to increase rather than diminish these death anxieties, while Christ offers near-perfect solutions to each type. Why, then, asks Dr. Langs, has Christ failed to bring peace to the world? Langs answer is focused on what is, he argues, Western religions lack of a deep understanding of human psychologyi.e., an absence of the psychological wisdom needed to supplement the spiritual wisdom of religion. This is a void bemoaned as early as the mid-1800s by the Archbishop Temple and by Carl Jung in the early 20th century. The journey on which Langs study embarks leads through an examination of the related topics of knowledge acquisition and divine wisdom the failure of psychoanalysis to provide religion with the psychology it needs to fulfill its mission and a set of propositions that are intended to bring psychological wisdom to religion and thereby to initiate the third chapter in the history of God, in which a refashioned morality and fresh divine wisdom play notable roles. Simultaneously, the book offers a foundation for secular forms of spirituality and morality, as well as for human efforts to cope with death and its incumbent anxieties. The mission of this book is a lofty but necessary one to reinvigorate religion with new dimensions and insights so as to empower it, at long last, to help bring peace to the world, both individually and collectively. **