Abstract

In this interview, Samuel Weber, Avalon Professor of the Humanities at Northwestern University and Paul de Man Chair at the European Graduate School, discusses his latest work on theological economy. Professor Weber draws on Walter Benjamin´s essay “Capitalism as Religion” to suggest a link between the Christian conception of guilt, and the capitalist understanding of debt. According to Weber, since debt and guilt share the need for redemption, an economic crisis not only reveals financial anxieties, but also religious ones. Professor Weber also discusses the implications of theological economy for critical theory, in the works of Karl Marx, Theodor Adorno and, specially, Jacques Derrida.