On Metaphysics and Supersessionism

Abstract

Abstract Scholars, theologians and lay people are in the midst of a wave of vital conversations about the nature of Christian supersessionism and the possibility of a post-supersessionist theology. This paper seeks to contribute to these conversations by drawing out the presuppositions about evental relationship that underly supersessionistic habits of thought and their alternatives. This effort will proceed primarily through a critique of Alain Badiou’s supersessionistic reading of the Jewish/Christian evental relationship while attempting to salvage his formal concept of evental recurrence as a potential resource for post-supersessionist theology. The bulk of the paper is dedicated to this critique and salvage project. However, it will close with a series of brief reflections on how a non-teleogical metaphysics of evental recurrence might displace some of the teleological thought patterns that drive the dilemmas of supersessionism