Acts of Religion

Acts of Religion, compiled in close association with Jacques Derrida, brings together for the first time a number of Derrida's writings on religion and questions of faith and their relation to philosophy and political culture. The essays discuss religious texts from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, as well as religious thinkers such as Kant, Levinas, and Gershom Scholem, and comprise pieces spanning Derrida's career. The collection includes two new essays by Derrida that appear here for the first time in any language, as well as a substantial introduction by Gil Anidjar that explores Derrida's return to his own "religious" origins and his attempts to bring to light hidden religious dimensions of the social, cultural, historical, and political.

(Dates of first publication appear below each selection. "The Eyes of Language: The Abyss and the Volcano" and "Hostipitality" are published here for the first time in any language.)
:1:Faith and Knowledge: The Two Sources of "Religion" at the Limits of Reason Alone (In French, 1996; in English, 1998)
:2:Des Tours de Babel (In French, 1980; in English, 1985)
:3:Interpretations at War: Kant, the Jew, the German (In French, 1989; in English, 1991)
:4:The Eyes of Language: The Abyss and the Volcano
:5:Force of Law: The "Mystical Foundation of Authority" (Simultaneously in French and English, 1990; complete French version, 1994; complete English version, 2001)
:6:Taking a Stand for Algeria (in French, 1995; in English, 1998)
:7:A Silkworm of One's Own (Points of View Stitched on the Other Veil)
:8:Hostipitality
:Bibliography
:Permissions
:Index

Jacques Derrida teaches at the École des Hautes Études in Paris, at the University of California, Irvine, New York University, and the New School for Social Research. He is the author of more than 30 books including Acts of Literature and Specters of Marx, both published by Routledge. Gil Anidjar is Assistant Professor in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.