Abstract
What Derrida calls “Abrahamic Messianism” refers to the specific experiences of revelation of prophetic figures like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Derrida argues that the “universal structure of the Messianic” must be distinguished from the historical experiences of revelation within these religious traditions. Derrida defines “Messianicity” as a fundamental aspect of the human experience: “As soon as you address the other,” he claims, “as soon as you are open to the future,… [to] waiting for someone to come: that is the opening of experience” (Deconstruction in a Nutshell 22). But Derrida is even more specific than this: “Each time I open my mouth, I am promising something... Even if I lie, the condition of my lie is that I promise to tell you the truth. So the promise is not just one speech act among others; every speech act is fundamentally a promise.” At times, however, Derrida will also suggest that we might not “know what Messianicity is without [Abrahamic] Messianism, without these events which were Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ, and so on” (23), an assertion that not only Marxist critics might disagree with but also Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, or adherents to other non-Abrahamic religious traditions, not to mention agnostics and atheists.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Copyright information
© 2009 Christopher Wise
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wise, C. (2009). Deconstruction and Zionism. In: Derrida, Africa, and the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230619531_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230619531_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37839-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-61953-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)