Theology and critique in Walter Benjamin
Abstract
This article addresses various aspects of Walter Benjamin's work: his link with Judaism through Gershom Scholem, his micrological writing as practiced in Einbahnstraße, his assessment of modernity in his essay on Baudelaire, his Theses on the Philosophy of History and his conception of messianic time. Against science, which, allied with myth, is the ideology of the victors, Benjamin opts for religion, which by definition sides with the victims. However, this vision hardly shows any sympathy towards history as it happens: theology is never on the victims' side, and if it is, it is pure rhetoric. This is true in every religion, and even more so in Christianity. Salvationist theology involves a catastrophic rupture that is and will always be capitalised on by groups of enlightened people. Is that why all, absolutely all revolutions have failed so far?