The questioning of religion is the beginning of a flood, one that
cannot be contained and will soon drown every theological, political,
economic, and cultural orthodoxy that pledged its allegiance to a
sinking cause. We are in just such an era of revolt, and those with
eyes to see are learning to interrogate motives. When we are told of
an idea that cannot possibly be true, the most immediate question is
this: does the speaker so very foolishly believe their own words, or
is the person a cynic who knows perfectly well how they manipulate
the truth? As individual personalities transform into a collective
drive, the aftermath is a brutal mix of motives, fictions, and
anxieties. The Cynic & the Fool explores theology and
politics through the lens of our unconscious motives, our clever
repression, and our deceptive denial. In nine chapters interspersed
with nine parables, DeLay unites psychoanalysis, philosophy, and
theology together for an accessible yet critical theory of culture.
There could not be a more crucial moment to settle these questions.
Why do we feel such anxiety over the most abstract orthodoxies, what
conflicts of interest are we facing, and why we are commanded to see
the world a certain way?
"At a time when vicious partisan
politics has replaced the wars of religion with their odium
theologicum of bygone ages, Tad DeLay's Cynic and the Fool is a
must-read for thoughtful people, regardless of their ideological
persuasion. Through storytelling, personal anecdote, and frequent
flashes of magisterial pedagogy, DeLay entices us into confronting
the knotted tangles of our own 'political unconscious' and offers us
hope that we will eventually know the truth and that it might free
us, even if we are in a so-called 'post-truth' era." --Carl
Raschke, University of Denver; author of Critical Theology
