I am first of all in need of giving thanks and recognition to the K. U. Leuven Research Fund which has made this work possible and provided generous support over the course of the past several years. I would also like to thank the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-Vlaanderen (FWO) and the Academische Stichting Leuven (ASL) for providing valuable conference funding when it was needed. Such financial supports were what, in the end, provided the means to conduct this research, and for this I am very grateful.
A large percentage of the present study was presented at a number of conferences over the past four years, each of which provided a series of unique opportunities. I am thankful to both the organizers of such events as well as those who provided an abundance of funding to make such academic incursions possible. Such conferences include: Ethics, Identity and Recognition: Latin American Congress on Paul Ricoeur’s Thought, Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2011), Freud After Derrida: An International Interdisciplinary Conference, Winnipeg, Canada (2010), Conference on Continental Metaphysics, Dundee, Scotland (2010), Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology VII, Leuven, Belgium (2009), International Walter Benjamin Association conference, Antwerp, Belgium (2009), UK-Ireland Society for Ricoeur Studies conference, Canterbury, England (2009) and Paul Ricoeur: Poetics and Religion, Leuven, Belgium (October 2008).
I wish also to acknowledge that the following essays which appear in this book, either in part or in whole, were first published elsewhere in print. Chapter Two contains significantly reworked material from the article ‘Canon as an act of creation: Giorgio Agamben and the extended logic of the messianic’, Bijdragen: International Journal in Philosophy and Theology 71:2 (2010) 132–58. Chapter Three contains portions of ‘The Relationship of Canon and Messiah: The Convergence of Jan Assmann and Walter Benjamin on a Theory of Monotheistic Canon’, The Bible and Critical Theory 7:1 (2011) 1–15. And Chapter Four includes material from ‘The Absent Notion of Canonicity in Paul Ricoeur’s Memory, History, Forgetting’ in J. Verheyden, T. L. Hettema and P. Vandecasteele, eds., Paul Ricoeur: Poetics and Religion, ‘Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium’ 240, Leuven: Peeters, 2011, pp. 487–501; ‘Examining the theopolitical dimensions of representation: The ‘exception’ in Ricoeur’s hermeneutics’ in Todd Mei and David Lewin, eds, From Ricoeur to Action: The Socio-Political Significance of Ricoeur’s Thinking, London: Continuum, 2012, pp. 229–45; and, ‘The guises of violence: Paul Ricoeur on the difficulties of constructing an ontotheological bridge between metaphor and politics’, in Greg Johnson and Dan Stiver, eds, Paul Ricoeur and the Task of Political Philosophy, Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2012. I am grateful to each of these journals, books and publishers for the permission to use these materials.
There have been a number of people responsible for the production of this book, which began as my dissertation, and thanking them for their assistance now strikes me as no small matter. I wish first of all to thank the trio of persons most responsible for promoting my work, as well as the many methods of support they have thrown my way. Thanks to Lieven Boeve for offering his support and encouragement, as well as for the many opportunities to conduct research at this level. His insight and influence are directly responsible for the many paths my work has taken, and I am immensely indebted to his willingness to guide me on many counts. Thanks to Frederiek Depoortere for so many moments of support and understanding, as well as advice when I would need it suddenly. I have also benefitted greatly from his prolific research, something for which I am very grateful indeed. Thanks also to Joeri Schrijvers for valuable feedback and comment upon my research as it has progressed over the years. For these reasons, among others, I have been blessed by the kindness of all three.
I am also grateful to the various members of the research group ‘Theology in a Postmodern Context’ within the Faculty of Theology, K. U. Leuven who provided a constant source of stimulation for my thoughts and a platform from which to spring invigorated into my own research. I was greatly enriched by the conversations that I had with colleagues in Leuven over the years, including but not limited to Martin Sebastian Kallungal, Gabor Ambrus, Justin Sands, John Friday, Joke Lambelin and Yves De Maeseneer. I have also been nourished by the excellent discussions on a variety of matters both poetic and literary with Kristien Justaert.
I would also like to thank the many readers of this work, in part or whole, who provided feedback throughout the process. Besides those already mentioned, I would like to single out Jacques Haers, Ken Surin and Ward Blanton for taking the time to read the text and offer valuable feeback and advice.
On a more personal level, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the various babysitters of my son over the years who made life a lot easier when I was struggling to find the time (any time!) to accomplish my work: Myrna Keogh, Heidi Matz, the university crèche ‘Babyhome’, and Tantes Isabelle, Lien, Li, Birgid and Jelke at the Sancta Maria basis school have all been fantastic reminders of how raising a child is a task never undertaken alone. My parents, Ron and Phyllis, are deserving of multiple counts of thanks for their unending support of all that I have done in my life, especially the willingness to acquire for me nearly every book I would dutifully read as a child. I owe them a great deal of gratitude upon which I am still making payment. Lastly, for their support in all manner of things spoken and unspoken, and more importantly their ability to distract me when it was necessary (and even when it wasn’t!), I find myself humbled by the wealth of riches given to me by both Elisabeth and Rowan. This book is only possible because of their varied (and shared) roles in my life.