Return Statements

Gregg Lambert examines the internal relationship between the return of overtly religious themes in contemporary philosophy over the past decade and another sense of the 'post-secular' turn that has been taking place globally following the events of 9/11. He asks how these two 'returns to religion' can be taking place simultaneously without appearing as the same horizon of the West viewed from opposing perspectives of the globe? Through a series of reflections on the 'return statements' performed by contemporary philosophers including Alain Badiou, John D. Caputo, Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy, Lambert discovers the unique sense of the term 'religion' that belongs exclusively to our contemporary perspective - a sense whose bio-political meaning is both unprecedented and foreboding.