Terry Eagleton

I had the opportunity to hear Terry Eagleton talk about Jesus and Tragedy. He said so many clever and fascinating things. He discussed theological writings and the idea that God did not need to create the Universe he just did it because. Creation, evil and art have no purpose according to Eagleton, they just are.


Some of the things he said were so witty and pithy - he spoke of the Holocaust as a dream of purity and said to watch out for purity, because "evil can't accept the messiness of everyday existence. He also spoke of fundamentalism as a fetish that hides the gap.

Eagleton is not a man of technology. "I don't even use e-mail," he said, "I intend to get to the end of my life without ever having used it."

He describes himself as "an ecriveur (someone who just writes) and not an ecrivain.... That I write is less important than what I write," he says.

In talking about gaps, he noted "being self-estranged, that we are not identical with ourselves allows us to be creative."

He gave us much to think about.