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Between Resurrection and Insurrection: Jesus and the “Deconstruction of Monotheism” in “Von der Zärtlichkeit” by Navid Kermani and “ich, jesus von nazareth” by SAID
Author(s)
Date Issued
2019-06-10
Date Available
2019-07-01T11:13:04Z
Abstract
The work of Navid Kermani and SAID frequently engages with religious themes and their respective oeuvres foreground the diversity within Islam and blur religious dividing lines. In spite of their differences, the short stories “Von der Zärtlichkeit” (Of Tenderness) by Kermani and “ich, jesus von nazareth” (i, jesus of nazareth) by SAID invite comparison because they share a deconstructive engagement with the figure of Jesus, conveying a spirituality felt in the material, rather than the metaphysical world. Whereas the former depicts a mystical experience in which Jesus’s presence is felt without him being glimpsed, implying an ambiguous sense of the divine in withdrawal and of empty sacred space, the latter is an at times angry monologue delivered by Jesus, in which holiness is located in righteous action against injustice. Hence the former evokes issues of spiritual absence and presence through Jesus’s resurrection, whereas the latter conveys a sense of insurrection, underlining Jesus’s role as a social radical. Both texts, however, shift meaning away from a transcendent God and toward the world, suggesting a religiosity beyond identity and ideology which can be illuminated by bringing Jean-Luc Nancy’s non-dualist concept of the “deconstruction of monotheism” into dialogue with the texts’ Christian and Sufi allusions.
Type of Material
Journal Article
Publisher
University of Notre Dame
Journal
Religion and Literature
Volume
49
Issue
3
Start Page
1
End Page
21
Copyright (Published Version)
2019 University of Notre Dame
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0888-3769
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
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