Dickinson traces the development of two concepts, the messianic and the canonical, as they circulate, interweave and contest each other in the work of three prominent continental philosophers: Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben, though a strong supporting cast of Jan Assmann, Gershom Scholem, Jacob Taubes and Paul Ricoeur, among others, also play their respective roles throughout this study. He isolates how their various interactions with their chosen terms reflects a good deal of what is said within the various discourses that constitute what we have conveniently labelled, often in mistakenly monolithic terms, as 'Theology'. By narrowing the scope of this study to the dynamics generated historically by these contrasting terms, he also seeks to determine what exactly lies at the heart of theology's seemingly most treasured object: the presentation beyond any representation, the supposed true nucleus of all revelation and what lies behind any search for a 'theology of immanence' today.

This book traces the concepts of the 'messianic' and the 'canon' as central terms upon which both philosophy and theology historically rely.

Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Between Philosophy and Theology 1. The Legacy of an Antinomian Messianism within a Jewish Historical Context 2. Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben on the Processes of Messianicity and Canonicity Conclusions formulated on the basis of Part I: Recognizing the Challenges of a 'Political Theology of Immanence' Part II: The Radical Hermeneutics of Theology 3. The 'Violence' of the Canon: A Contemporary Context for the Canonical Form 4. The Necessity of Hermeneutics Conclusions formulated on the basis of Part II Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index