Žižek: “To become a true dialectical materialist, one must go through the Christian experience.”

I. If we want to be true atheists, shouldn’t we start with the religious edifice and undermine it from within?

II. Christian Atheism is a unique vision of Žižek’s theological project and the first book-length exploration of his religious thought. In his own words, “to become a true dialectical materialist, one must go through the Christian experience.” In his entire conception of “experience,” what is crucial is not some kind of spiritual revelation, but rather the logic of materialist thought. This assertion and, in turn, deconstruction of Christian theology is a well-known proposition of Žižek’s, one that has profound political, philosophical, and ultimately personal significance for him.

III. Slavoj Žižek has long been commenting on and critiquing Christian theology. His preoccupation with Badiou's concept of "event," coupled with his reading of the Apostle Paul in relation to the New Testament, has led to a decidedly theological turn in his thinking. Drawing on traditions and themes as broad as Buddhism, dialectical materialism, political subjectivity, quantum physics, AI, and chatbots, this book is his most extensive exploration of Žižek's idea of ​​a religious life.