John Caputo’s Radical Theology: God as Event

Abstract

The article is a short introduction to the theology of an American philosopher and theologian John Caputo, who belongs to the domain of post-metaphysical thought. The main purpose of the article is to introduce Russian-speaking readers to Caputo’s key ideas and to invite them to a dialogue with the present-day Continental theology. The article considers the intellectual context J. Caputo relies on — Heidegger’s late ideas and J. Derrida’s philosophy. The Caputo’s concept of «weak God» is analyzed as well. The focus is given to such an important idea characteristic for Caputo’s postmodern theology as the difference between a name and an event. This difference is what allows Caputo to think of the «weakness of God». The article also deals with theopoetics and hyperrealism — the concepts special for Caputo’s theological constructions. The conclusion is devoted to discussing a possible criticism of Caputo’s radical theology, proposed by Eastern Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart. Hart argues that Caputo’s theological project is a disguised metanarrative with a tendency to violence.