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S lavoj Ž ižek, the Death Drive, and Zombies: A Theological Account
Author(s) -
Sigurdson Ola
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/moth.12037
Subject(s) - zombie , dismissal , philosophy , theology , confession (law) , hybridity , literature , art , history , law , computer security , archaeology , computer science , political science
In this article, I discuss the question of the hybridity of the religious and the secular through the example of the S lovenian philosopher S lavoj Ž ižek and his psychoanalytically inspired notion of the undead. The undead is Ž ižek's rendering of the F reudian death drive, and as the undead is instantiated in the popular culture cliché of the zombies, we need to look no further than to G eorge A . R omero's classic zombie movie N ight of the L iving D ead from 1968. Thus, this article proceeds in three steps: first, I trace the concept of the death drive from F reud to Ž ižek, supplemented, for their theological importance, by two contemporary philosophers, J onathan L ear and E ric S antner. S econd, I discuss the zombie in contemporary popular culture, with a focus on R omero's movies, and whether such cinematic representations can function as a kind of cultural critique. In conclusion, I return to the question of theology by showing what Ž ižek means by theology and contrasting as well as comparing his philosophy to A ugustine's anthropology. Despite Ž ižek's atheistic confession and his dismissal of all pre‐modern philosophy and theology, I show that A ugustine's anthropology is structurally similar to Ž ižek's, thus suggesting that the relationship is more complex than Ž ižek allows. Both are united in rejecting any superficial and transparent understanding of self, and become, consequently, an example of the ambiguous relationship between religion and secularity in contemporary times.

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