Derrida: The Jewish Amillennialist

Peter Leithart has  a habit of reading lots of books and getting the greatest gems from them. I am glad he does it.  Bruce Ellis Benson’s Graven Ideologies is a study of various philosophers, including Derrida. According to Leithart:

“Benson says that Derrida emphasizes that all thought is set in a structure of “not yet but still to come.” This is Derrida’s famed notion that final meaning, closure, is forever deferred.”

Naturally for an atheist to defer is not quite a good idea. Atheists have nothing to look forward in this life nor in the life to come. The problem with Derrida’s “already, but not yet” is as Leithart summarizes:

“…he doesn’t believe in any eschaton. As Benson points out, Derrida’s messiah never comes (which leaves Derrida’s theology profoundly Jewish). But if there is an eschaton, then meaning is deferred, but not forever. There will be a day of accounting, a day that will set a final context in which every word and act may be judged.”