伊格尔顿谈文化与上帝之死——兼评西方左翼的“神学转向”

Eagleton on Culture and the Death of God:A Discussion of "the Theological Turn" of Western Leftists

伊格尔顿作为在西方文化左派中锋芒正盛的批评家,自本世纪伊始即将其理论批判的重心从文化领域移向时下政治热点。在他看来,当今西方社会早已从世俗化年代过渡到了一个以由宗教冲突引发的严重暴力事件为特征的新时期,马克思主义批评家有责任进入宗教与政治之间危险的交叉地带,正视当代西方政治的两难选择。伊格尔顿的新作《文化与上帝之死》即试图回应这一难题,尝试在世俗主义与宗教狂热的两极之外开出重返信仰本质的第三条道路。质言之,伊格尔顿投身新时期西方左派神学转向思潮,试图在宗教话语中寻找辅助左派政治实践的思想资源,谋求解决当前文化与政治问题之道。这恰从一个侧面显示出西方知识界左翼是如何经历这场神学转向的。

As a well-renowned critic of Western cultural leftists, Eagleton turns his research focus from cultural sphere to political issues in the new era. He reminds the intellectuals that the secular age seems to have been replaced by a new era, namely, the post-secular era, where metaphysical conflicts have caused various kinds of vital threats to world peace directly. He argues that Marxist critics have the responsibilities to venture into the overlapping areas of religion and politics. Eagleton＇s new work Culture and the Death of God attempts to correspond to the above aporia and open up the third way of returning to the doctrine of faith, differing from the opposite poles of liberal secularism and religious fanaticism. In the new wave of theological turn of criticism, Eagleton tries to assist cultural leftists＇ political practice by virtue of theological discourse, so as to find solutions to contemporary cultural and political problems. Meanwhile, Eagleton＇s efforts also act as an explanation to why the Western leftists have such a theological turn.