Philosophy and ideas often sneak their way into Christian dialogue and the worldview of believers. In the early centuries of the church, theologians would bring in ideas from Greek philosophy, cultural habits from their ethnic culture, or get carried away with an idea they didn’t understand; over time, bad ideas, false doctrine, or common misconceptions have entered common Christian discourse, and then been rejected.
Born in Algeria in 1930 to Sephardic Jews, Jacques Derrida had French citizenship through the Crémieux Decree of 1870, which extended French citizenship to Jews in French-controlled Africa. He moved to Paris for university around the beginning of World War II, where he studied and eventually became a professor. He was married to psychoanalyst Marguerite Aucoutier, with whom he had three children. He died in 2004.
All of the philosophical and political movements that influenced Derrida’s formation of his own philosophy were atheistic. These ideas included those of Karl Marx; though Derrida would always remain skeptical of Communism as prescribed by Marx, he did embrace radical thinking which encouraged the tearing down of the status quo. Another important influence was Martin Heidegger, a German thinker who reached the height of his popularity pre-World War II. Heidegger was considered the father of modern continental philosophy, and a member of the Nazi party, for which he never apologized or repented.
De La Grammatologie DifféranceLa Voix et Le Phénomène L’écriture et la différance
1. It seeks to understand the relationship between text and meaning.
2. Its foundational ideas are built on the belief that everything is subjective to experience, and therefore truth is subjective. Deconstructionism inherently assumes subjectivity and a lack of objective truth.
3. It exists to re-evaluate Western values and pure reason.
4. It challenges dialectics, which is arguing concepts by contrasting seemingly opposite ideas.
5. Il n'y a pas de hors-texte; a word cannot exist outside of context because people understand it in context. (Example: a sedan is understood in its cultural, geographic, and historical context, and is understood by its contrast to other modes of transportation like a truck, a van, a train, or a plane).
6. Deconstructionism is not a method for understanding, a form of analysis, or a style of critique. Instead, it seeks to exist outside traditional philosophical concepts for coming to conclusions.
7. The purpose of the exercise of deconstructing text is to break things down into its smallest separate parts, to re-evaluate how it has been understood, and to reveal how the way it has been understood is inadequate.
8. Deconstructionism does not present a way to reconstruct a text.
Applying Deconstructionism to a religious text means engaging with the text in such a manner to break it down into smaller and smaller parts, to find inadequacies in translation, historical interpretation, or personal understanding. Heresies that come from applying a Deconstructionist lens to the Bible often come from someone presenting a new understanding or interpretation of translations or traditional readings of particular words or phrases in the Bible.
1. Because the word Elohim is used in the Old Testament, and it is a plural noun, believing the Bible is only presenting one God is incorrect.
2. When seen through the right lens, the traditional understanding of Jesus being resurrected bodily is not correct.
3. Certain parts of the Bible may be true, but they may not be, and it is okay to accept what is easy to digest and reject or dismiss parts that are personally offensive.
4. God does not have a gender, or is transgendered, or many gendered.
5. Because the text of the Bible does not agree overtly with scientific texts, it can be interpreted metaphorically in part or in whole.
2. Comparing two verses or passages out of context against one another.
3. Taking a passage of the Bible, particularly from the Old Testament, that can be difficult to understand, and only interpreting it within the text; for example, because the New Testament says God is love in 1 Corinthians, but God orders the nation of Israel to engage in total war, then there are two different gods being spoken of in these two sections of the Bible.
4. Ignoring or rejecting the idea of the Holy Spirit as the divine author of the Bible, and assuming the Bible is not infallible.
5. Partnering deconstructionism with another 20th century philosophy such as Marxism, Feminism, or Freudianism to understand the text.
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Deconstructing the Faith: What Does It Mean
When someone reads or hears something that sounds wrong, or goes against a traditional understanding of the Bible, but doesn’t sound like other false teachings they may have heard before, there are questions they can ask to see if it is an idea born from deconstruction.
4. Does this rely on obscure or hyper-specific interpretations of the text or translations of the Hebrew or Greek?
5. Does this reject, or not take into account, historical accounts, information, or sources that would provide clarifying context that supports a traditional understanding of the Bible?
6. Is the interpretation rooted in a philosophy commonly paired with Deconstructionism like Feminism, Post-Structuralism, or Freudian thought?
“The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly…In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked. The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools” (Proverbs 15:2, 6-7).
“Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26).
“Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Proverbs 30:5).
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).
“For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
“But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.…They are upsetting the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:16-18).
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Sources
Abujamra, Lina. Fractured Faith Finding Your Way Back to God in an Age of Deconstruction. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2021.
Portrait of Jacques Derrida as a Young Jewish Saint
Adoration The Deconstruction of Christianity II
Deconstruction
An Event, Perhaps A Biography of Jacques Derrida
Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer who uses her passion for God, reading, and writing to glorify God. She and her husband have lived all over the country serving their Lord and Savior in ministry. She has a blog on graceandgrowing.com.
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