The Islamophobic Inheritance of the Resurrected Saint Paul: From F. C. Baur's Judeo-Christianity to the Event

It is my aim to demonstrate how the nineteenth-century theologian F. C. Baur's influence reappears in the resurrected Paul which has a central role in Badiou and Žižek's respective projects. This essay begins with a sketch of the historical, theological, and political context of F. C. Baur's writings. In a nutshell, Baur's Hegelian-inspired reading of Paul relies on the explicit distinction between Pauline (or Gentile) Christianity and Judeo-Christianity. I then move to a selection of Badiou and Žižek's writings on Paul in order to establish Baur's considerable influence. This influence is most tangible in their accounts of Paul's pivotal role as the militant revolutionary figure that brought about the paradigmatic Truth-Event. While much has been said of both Badiou and Žižek's antisemitism, not enough attention has been paid to its islamophobic inheritance.