{"product_id":"the-puppet-and-the-dwarf-isbn-9780262740258","title":"The Puppet and the Dwarf","description":"\u003cb\u003eOne of our most daring intellectuals offers a Lacanian interpretation of religion, finding that early Christianity was the first revolutionary collective.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eSlavoj Žižek has been called \"an academic rock star\" and \"the wild man of theory\"; his writing mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop culture in order to dissect current intellectual pieties. In \u003ci\u003eThe Puppet and the Dwarf\u003c\/i\u003e he offers a close reading of today's religious constellation from the viewpoint of Lacanian psychoanalysis. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality—New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian Judaism—and then tries to redeem the \"materialist\" kernel of Christianity. His reading of Christianity is explicitly political, discerning in the Pauline community of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of Enlightenment like Jurgen Habermas acknowledge that a religious vision is needed to ground our ethical and political stance in a \"postsecular\" age, this book—with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same time indebted to the core of the Christian legacy—is certain to stir controversy.\u003c\/p\u003eA witty, informative trip...both erudite and accessible...—\u003cb\u003eRick Mitchell\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLeonardo Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis writing is bold, confident and contentious.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJulian Baggini\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Philosopher's Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Puppet and the Dwarf\u003c\/i\u003e is Žižek's most compelling and passionate writing on Christianity to date.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003cb\u003eErik Davis\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBookforum\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eQuite possibly the most entertaining philosopher working today. Žižek knows how to think the unthinkable.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJori Finkel\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVillage Voice\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSlavoj Žižek may have the strongest 'brand identity'...of any cultural theorist now in the marketplace of ideas.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003cb\u003eScott McLemee\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Chronicle of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eŽižek is the first Marxist to write theology in a post-marxist, post-secular age.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003cb\u003eEugene McCarraher\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e...Žižek mixes Pauline speculations with analyses of everything from G. K. Chesterton to chocolate eggs.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003cb\u003eTerry Eagleton\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eŽižek\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003erarely fails to entertain...\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e—Slavoj Žižek, a philosopher and cultural critic, is Senior Researcher in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London. He is the author of more than thirty books, including \u003ci\u003eLooking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Parallax View\u003c\/i\u003e, T\u003ci\u003ehe Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic \u003c\/i\u003e(with John Milbank), and \u003ci\u003eŽižek's Jokes (Did you hear the one about Hegel and negation?)\u003c\/i\u003e, these five published by the MIT Press.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302961926373,"sku":"NP9780262740258","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262740258.jpg?v=1767741113","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-puppet-and-the-dwarf-isbn-9780262740258","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}