Summary: The paper responds to Derrida’s Avouer – L’Impossible, one of Derrida’s last texts, and seeks to understand several crucial words in him (including ‘life’ and ‘faith’). A critique is offered of Derrida’s theory of ethics. Professor Hart is Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Studies at the University of Virginia and a former Director of the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. His many publications include: The Trespass of the Sign: Deconstruction, Theology and Philosophy (1988), Samuel Johnson and the Culture of Property (1999), The Dark Gaze: Maurice Blanchot and the Sacred (2004), Derrida and Religion (2004) and Counter-Experiences: Reading Jean-Luc Marion (2007).
