John D. Caputo, the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Syracuse University, will conduct a public lecture on April 7 at 7 p.m. at the Doyne Health Sciences auditorium on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.
Caputo is a nationally and internationally acclaimed philosopher of religion, and one of the foremost interpreters of Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction and postmodernism. His lecture will be entitled “What is Radical Theology? A Postmodern Proposal.”
“Caputo is the leading scholar who shows how important postmodern philosophy is for religion and theology,” said Dr. Clayton Crockett, an associate professor and director of religious studies at UCA.
Upon retiring from Villanova in 2004, Caputo took a position at Syracuse University, where he has co-hosted three conferences on “Religion, Postmodernism, and Culture,” the latest of which was held last April 2009.
Caputo has published a number of important books, including most recently The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event, which won the 2007 American Academy of Religion book award for constructive religious thought.
He has traveled across the country and presented in numerous academic and religious contexts, and he recently published a more popular book called What Would Jesus Deconstruct?
“By applying deconstruction to Christianity, most popularly in What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, Caputo has transcended narrow academic scholarship and given voice to important religious and political ideas for a broader intellectual public,” Crockett said.
This will be a great opportunity for the UCA community to meet, to see, and hear Caputo, who is one of the most accessible, clear, and lively voices in what is often a very technical and obscure field, Crockett added.
Caputo’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy of Religion at UCA, UCA College of Liberal Arts, UCA Honors College, and the Norbert and Carol Schedler Endowment Fund.
For more information, contact Crockett at 450-5506.