Editing Apophatic theology (section)

=== Jacques Derrida ===

The work of Jewish philosopher [[Jacques Derrida]], and in particular his critical method called [[deconstruction]], has frequently been compared to negative theology, and led to renewed interest in apophaticism in the late 20th century, even among continental philosophers and literary scholars who may not have otherwise have been particularly invested in theological issues.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jacques Derrida|editor1-last=Coward|editor1-first=Harold|title=Derrida and Negative Theology|date=1992|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, N.Y.|page=128}}</ref> Conversely, the perception that deconstruction resembled or essentially was a form of secular negative theology also – according to Derrida himself – took the form of an accusation from his critics, implicitly positing both negative theology and deconstruction as being elaborate ways of saying nothing of any substance or importance. However, Derrida strongly repudiated this comparison for much of his career, arguing that any resemblance between his thought and apophaticism is purely superficial. Derrida argued that the aims of negative theology – to demonstrate the ultimate, incomprehensible, transcendent reality of God – are a form of [[ontotheology]] which runs fundamentally counter to deconstruction's aim of purging Western thought of its pervasive [[metaphysics of presence]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shakespeare |first1=Stephen |title=Derrida and Theology |date=2009 |publisher=T&T Clark |location=London |isbn=9780567032409 |pages=100–111}}</ref>

Later in his career, such in as his essay {{lang|fr|"Sauf le nom"}}, Derrida comes to see apophatic theology as potentially but not necessarily a means through which the intractable inadequacies of language and the ontological difficulties which proceed from them can brought to our attention and explored:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shakespeare |first1=Stephen |title=Derrida and Theology |date=2009 |publisher=T&T Clark |location=London |isbn=9780567032409 |pages=111–123}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=There is one apophasis that can in effect respond to, correspond to, correspond with the most insatiable desire of God, according to the history and the event of its manifestation or the secret of its non-manifestation.

The other apophasis, the other voice, can remain readily foreign to all desire, in any case to every anthropotheomorphic form of desire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Derrida |first1=Jacques |title=On the Name |date=1995 |publisher=Stanford UP |location=Stanford |isbn=0804725551 |page=36}}</ref>}}

Scholars such as Stephen Shakespeare have noted that – despite Derrida's pervasive concern with many aspects of Jewish theology and identity – his writing on negative theology draws almost exclusively on Christian writing and couches the topic in the language of Christianity generally. Derrida's thought in general, but in particular his later writing on negative theology, was highly influential in the development of the Weak Theology movement, and of [[postmodern theology]] as a whole.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Caputo |first1=John D. |title=The Weakness of God |date=2006 |publisher=Indiana UP |location=Bloomington |isbn=0-253-34704-1}}</ref>

David Wood and Robert Bernasconi have highlighted how Derrida [[Deconstruction#Derrida's "negative" descriptions|explains what deconstruction is in an overwhelmingly negative, "apophatic" fashion]].<ref>Wood, David, and Bernasconi, Robert (1988): ''Derrida and Différance'', Evanston: Northwestern University Press.</ref>