Soloviy Roman
Abstract. The article speaks of and describes the philosophical-theological conditions and characteristics of theopoetic interpretation of the divine in the postmodern times. Its main feature is an effort to replace the traditional prosaic theology characterized by its intellectualism, scientism and the displacement of symbols with the poetic sensitivity to the divine. The author takes John Caputo’s “weak theology” as an example and reflects on how it is still possible to speak about God in a way that is both meaningful and relevant to the post-modern people in the world, which declares that there is no fixed and authoritative way to access the knowledge or the belief. Caputo’s theopoetics is an important component of his “weak theology” project, which considers God not as an allpowerful person or the ground of being, but as the “weak force”, devoid of traditional metaphysical attributes of authority, power and hierarchical primacy open to risk and uncertainty. The “weak theology” seeks to remain open to “things themselves”; that is, to what belongs to the ultimate human concern and cannot be reduced to the accuracy of statements made by the objectifying thinking. Similarly, Caputo sees religion not as a figurative expression of metaphysical substance or spirit, but as a way to poeticize what Heidegger, Derrida and Deleuze called an “event”. Additionally, the article analyzes some consequences of the theopoetic perspective to the formation of a new political theology and the search for new ways of Christians’ political engagement. The article investigates how the consistent deconstruction of the idea of a sovereign God regarded as one of the pillars on which the ideology and practice of political violence stands involves the deconstruction of these violent political systems.
Keywords: John Caputo, deconstruction, theopoetics, theopolitics, “weak theology”, event of God.