Christian Conservatism and Neo-Gnosticism: A Reply to Nick Opyrchal

“However, Žižek’s entire point is that the dialectical method reveals a shocking truth about the world: that certain limitations cannot be overcome because they are built into the structure of reality itself.”

Introduction

I read Nick Opyrchal’s recent Merion West article “The Monstrosity of Gnosticism” with great interest and appreciation. Opyrchal frames this piece as a response to my take on the Milbank-Žižek debate, particularly as expressed in their joint 2009 book The Monstrosity of Christ. Opyrchal claims that, while he admires my writing (the feeling is mutual), he takes issue with the “radically heterodox” interpretation of Christianity offered by Slavoj Žižek and myself. He is also critical of my appraisal of the conservative tradition’s approach to the relationship among religious traditionalism, modernity, and post-modernity.

Opyrchal raises two primary objections to the piece. The first is that I was uncharitable to various conservative religious commentators, who actually have a more subtle take on the relationship among traditionalism, modernity, and post-modernity than I suggest. In particular conservative commentators such as Eric Voegelin and Kenneth Minogue are sensitive to both the historical antecedents and modern analogues of religious traditions in a way most progressive interpreters are not. Opyrchal writes:

“McManus makes the assertion that conservative thinkers have not adequately interrogated the religious influences on the culture of the modern world. However, in obvious contradiction to this claim, many well-known philosophers such as Voegelin, Kenneth Minogue, and Del Noce (among a wealth of others) have written in intricate detail about Christian and Gnostic influence on modern culture. In contrast to the conflation of Gnosticism and Christian thought that Žižek offers, these conservative authors have often produced more nuanced analysis in highlighting the difference between these two related and parallel (yet profoundly different) streams of religious thought in the West and their modern cultural analogues.”