Adam Kotsko

[Interested parties might also read my attempt at a narrative CV written shortly after my dissertation defense.]

Education
Ph.D., 2009, Chicago Theological Seminary; Theology, Ethics, and the Human Sciences.

  • Dissertation: “Atonement and Ontology” (accepted “with distinction”) (description link)
  • Committee: Theodore W. Jennings, Jr. (advisor), Laurel C. Schneider, Bo Myung Seo

M.A., 2005, Chicago Theological Seminary; Religious Studies.

  • Thesis: “‘Literature in Secret: An Impossible Filiation’ by Jacques Derrida: Translation and Commentary” (accepted “with distinction”). (translation link)

B.A., 2002, Olivet Nazarene University; English.

  • Summa cum laude with departmental honors.
  • One semester at Oxford University with the Oxford Honours Programme.

Books
Why We Love Sociopaths: A Guide to Late Capitalist Television (New York and London: Zer0 Books, 2012). (Amazon link)

Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation (New York and London: Continuum/T&T Clark, 2010). (publisher link; Amazon link)

Awkwardness (New York and London: Zer0 Books, 2010). (publisher link; Amazon link)

Žižek and Theology (New York and London: Continuum/T&T Clark, 2008). (publisher link; Amazon link)

Journal Articles
“On Materialist Theology: Thinking God Beyond the Master Signifier,” Revue Internationale de Philosophie (forthcoming).

“The Resurrection of the Dead: A Religionless Interpretation,” Princeton Theological Review 26.1 (2011): 37-48. (PDF journal issue link)

“Gift and Communio: The Holy Spirit in Augustine’s De Trinitate,” Scottish Journal of Theology 64.1 (2011): 1-12. (PDF link; online journal issue link)

“The Christian Experience Continues: On Žižek’s Work Since The Parallax View,” International Journal of Žižek Studies 4.4 (2010): 1-9. (PDF link)

“‘That They Might Have Ontology’: Radical Orthodoxy and the New Debate,” Political Theology 10.1 (January 2009): 115-124. (submitted version PDF link)

“On Agamben’s Use of Benjamin’s ‘Critique of Violence,’” Telos 145 (Winter 2008): 119-129. (excerpt link)

“The Failed Divine Performative: Reading Judith Butler’s Critique of Theology with Anselm’s On the Fall of the Devil,” Journal of Religion 88.2 (2008): 209–225. (PDF link)

“Politics and Perversion: Situating Žižek’s Paul,” Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 9.2 (2008): 43-52. (PDF link)

“The Sermon on Mount Moriah: Faith and the Secret in The Gift of Death,” Heythrop Journal 49.1 (2008): 44-61. (submitted version PDF link)

“Objective Spirit and Continuity in the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” Philosophy and Theology 17.1-2 (2005): 17-31. (PDF link)

“Empire and Eschaton,” Journal of Philosophy and Scripture 2.1 (2004): 1-6. (HTML link)

Book Chapter
“Dismantling the Theo-Political Machine: On Agamben’s Messianic Nihilism,” in After the Postsecular and the Postmodern: New Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion, ed. Anthony Paul Smith and Daniel Whistler (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010).

Translations
Giorgio Agamben, The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form of Life (Stanford: Stanford University Press, under contract).

Giorgio Agamben, Opus Dei: An Archeology of Office (Stanford: Stanford University Press, under contract).

Giorgio Agamben, The Sacrament of Language: An Archaeology of the Oath (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010).

Scholarly Reviews
“Gutiérrez and Negri on Job: Between Theology and Materialism” (review of Antonio Negri, The Labor of Job: The Biblical Text as a Parable of Human Labor), The Bible and Critical Theory 8.1 (2012), 110-114. (PDF link)

Review of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Commonwealth (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), Political Theology 12.3 (2011): 487-490. (PDF link)

Review of Adrian Johnston, Žižek’s Ontology: A Transcendental Materialist Theory of Subjectivity (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2009), Symplokē 18.1-2 (2011): 419-421. (HTML link)

“Missed Encounter, Missed Opportunity” (contribution to roundtable on Žižek and Milbank, The Monstrosity of Christ), Expositions 4.1-2 (2010): 123-127. (PDF link)

Review of Slavoj Žižek and John Milbank, The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009), Political Theology 11.1 (2010), 141-144 (PDF link).

“Žižek’s Flawed ‘Magnum Opus.’” (Review of Slavoj Žižek, The Parallax View.) Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 8.1 (2006): 90-97. (PDF link)

“Already, Not Yet.” (Review of Jean-Luc Nancy, Déclosion : Déconstruction du christianisme, 1.) Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 6.3 (2005): 87-95. (PDF link)

Books reviewed for Reviews in Religion and Theology:

Other Publications
“Quentin Meillassoux and the Crackpot Sublime,” The New Inquiry, May 9, 2012. (link)

“The Immersion Method,” Inside Higher Ed, May 3, 2012. (link)

Review of Slavoj Žižek, Living in the End Times, expanded paperback edition (New York: Verso, 2011), Global Comment, June 17, 2011. (link)

“The Flawed Middle,” Inside Higher Ed, April 20, 2011. (link)

“The Bond of the Awkward,” The Guardian, January 1, 2011. (link)

“Christians in Academe: A Response,” Inside Higher Ed, August 9, 2010. (link)

“On Teaching Christianity,” Inside Higher Ed, February 18, 2010. (link)

“A Defense of the Lecture,” Inside Higher Ed, November 20, 2009. (link)

“‘You’re Not Don Draper’: Looking Back on Mad Men Season 2,” PopMatters, August 14, 2009. (link)

“The Ethics of Dr. Gregory House,” PopMatters, April 23, 2009. (link)

“A Skeptic’s Take on Academic Blogging,” Inside Higher Ed, November 1, 2007. (link)

“Don’t Be Afraid of Committees,” Inside Higher Ed, May 21, 2007. (link)

“Žižek’s Refusal.” (Review of Slavoj Žižek, The Parallax View.) In These Times, May 2006. (link)

Invited Lectures
“Agamben, Paul, and the Oath.” Paul of Tarsus Interdisciplinary Working Group, Northwestern University, April 2011. (PDF link)

“Awkwardness.” Marion Dunsmore Lecture in Religion, Kalamazoo College, March 2010.

Conference Presentations
Panelist for “Review/Discussion of Antonio Negri’s The Labor of Job: The Biblical Text as a Parable of Human Labor (Duke University Press, 2009).” American Academy of Religion (Bible, Theology, and Postmodernism), San Francisco, November 2011. (HTML link)

Panelist for “The Body of Christ.” American Academy of Religion (Bible, Theology, and Postmodernism), Atlanta, November 2010. (Scribd link)

“Displacing the Devil: Anselm, the Patristic Heritage, and Political Theology.” International Medieval Congress, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2010. (PDF link)

“Patristic Perspectives on the Cross: A Reinterpretation.” American Academy of Religion (Bible, Theology, and Postmodernism), Montreal, November 2009. (HTML link)

“The Pre-History of Jean-Luc Nancy’s Deconstruction of Christianity.” American Academy of Religion (Philosophy of Religion), Chicago, November 2008. (PDF link)

Panelist for “Hegemony, Gospel, & Empty Signifier: Theological and Philosophical Responses to Populist Reason.” American Academy of Religion (additional meeting), Chicago, November 2008. (PDF link)

“Philosophical Reading Beyond Paul: Jean-Luc Nancy on the Epistle of James.” Society of Biblical Literature (Reading, Theory, and the Bible), San Diego, November 2007. (HTML link)

Panelist for “The Internet, Publishing, and the Future of Literature.” Association of Literary Scholars and Critics Annual Meeting, Chicago, October 2007. (published version link)

“Singular Plural Catholic Spirit: John Wesley with Jean-Luc Nancy.” Wesleyan Theological Society Annual Meeting, Bourbonnais, Ill., March 2007. (PDF link)

Panelist for “Critical Responses to Theology and the Political: The New Debate (Duke, 2005).” American Academy of Religion (wildcard session), Washington, D.C., November 2006. (published version PDF link)

“Politics and Perversion: Situating Žižek’s Paul.” Society of Biblical Literature (Reading, Theory, and the Bible), Washington, D.C., November 2006. (published version PDF link)

“Repeating Wesley.” Wesleyan Theological Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, March 2005. (PDF link)

“Slavoj Žižek’s Materialist Trinitarianism.” Annual Villanova Graduate Student Philosophy Conference on “Philosophy and Psychoanalysis,” Philadelphia, March 2003. (PDF link)

Teaching
Shimer College (Chicago, Illinois); Assistant Professor of Humanities, 2011-

  • Courses taught: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction (Humanities 2) (syllabus); Philosophy and Theology (Humanities 3) (syllabus); Critical Evaluation in the Humanities (Humanities 4) (syllabus)

Kalamazoo College (Kalamazoo, Michigan); Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion, 2009-2011

Chicago Theological Seminary (Chicago, Illinois); Teaching Assistant, 2006-2008

  • Courses assisted: History of Christian Thought; Systematic Theology; Constructive Theology; Public Theology (online course)

Service
Fellow of the PhD Center, Chicago Theological Seminary, 2011-

Peer review work:

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
  • Journals: Political Theology, Symplokē, and Mosaic

Service to the American Academy of Religion:

  • Member of the Steering Committee for the Bible, Theology, and Postmodernism Group, 2010-
  • Student Liaison, 2006-2008

Student Representative Positions at Chicago Theological Seminary:

  • Search Committee for New Testament Faculty Position, 2006-2007
  • Academic and Student Affairs Committee (Board of Trustees), 2006-2007
  • Academic Council, 2005-2007

Fellowships and Awards
Research assistantship, Chicago Theological Seminary, 2006-2009
Ph.D. Fellowship, Chicago Theological Seminary, 2005-2009
Full-tuition scholarship, Olivet Nazarene University 1998-2002

Professional Associations
American Academy of Religion
Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy

Research Languages
Reading and translation: French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek

References

  • Theodore W. Jennings, Jr. Professor of Biblical and Constructive Theology. Chicago Theological Seminary. (tjennings@ctschicago.edu)
  • Laurel C. Schneider. Associate Professor of Theology, Ethics, and Culture. Chicago Theological Seminary. (lschneider@ctschicago.edu)
  • Bo Myung Seo. Associate Professor of Theology and Cultural Criticism. Chicago Theological Seminary. (bseo@ctschicago.edu)
  • Carol Anderson. Professor of Religion. Kalamazoo College. (anderson@kzoo.edu)
  • Michael Naas. Professor of Philosophy. DePaul University. (mnaas@depaul.edu)
  • Bruce Rosenstock. Associate Professor of Religion. University of Illinois. (brsnstck@uiuc.edu)
  • Craig Keen. Professor of Theology and Philosophy. Azusa Pacific University. (ckeen@apu.edu)
  • Slavoj Žižek. Researcher in Social Sciences. University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (szizek@yahoo.com)

updated May 9, 2012

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