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“Who is the Real Jacques Derrida?” And Paradise Regained?

“Who is the Real Jacques Derrida?” And Paradise Regained?

Last updated on: August 29, 2026 at 1:44 am by Dan Peterson

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“Who is the Real Jacques Derrida?” And Paradise Regained? 2026-08-29T01:44:58-06:00 Dan Peterson

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Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)

This article, written by James E. Faulconer, went up earlier today at Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 69 (2026): 467-504: “Who is the Real Jacques Derrida?”

Abstract: Jacques Derrida and deconstruction are frequently invoked, by both admirers and critics, as arguing for relativism, denying stable meaning, and dissolving the possibility of truth. This essay argues that such characterizations misunderstand Derrida’s project. Beginning with Nietzsche’s diagnosis of the collapse of the metaphysical foundations of Western thought and tracing its development through Heidegger, the essay explains Derridean deconstruction as an attempt to think truthfully and meaningfully without appealing to a metaphysical antecedent. For Derrida, the limits of language do not imply that truth is arbitrary or merely subjective. Rather, meaning is structured in coming to be through difference and deferral and—more important—by an anticipation of truth and justice always still “to come.” Deconstruction therefore functions less as the destruction of meaning than as an ethical practice of attending to what texts, practices, and systems necessarily overlook or exclude in order to think what those exclusions point to. Read in this way, Derrida’s thought has unexpected affinities with negative theology, religious hope, and ethical responsibility and may offer Latter-day Saint thinkers useful resources for reflecting on scripture, interpretation, and the limits of human knowledge without either requiring them to become Derrideans or preventing them from doing so.

Sunset at the Great Salt Lake (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

“Church of Jesus Christ expresses solidarity after deadly floods in Nepal and China: The church is assessing opportunities to provide relief to impacted communities and individuals”

“Church of Jesus Christ releases statement on regional drought and the Great Salt Lake: The statement urges members across the western United States to ‘take personal steps and support public efforts’ to conserve water”

With regard to the second link: I’ve recently read derisive comments from a few critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, mocking the statement issued by its leaders on the grounds that, if they really believed what they teach or really had any actual influence with any actual deity — who is apparently to be conceived as a cosmic vending machine rather than as a divine Person — they would simply be able to call rain down upon Utah and the surrounding region and eliminate the current water shortage. Their failure to do so, it seems, proves the Restoration false and the Church a fraud.

But, using such reasoning, a similar argument could have been leveled against the Restored Church already in the mid-nineteenth century. There was no need to wait until 2026 to make it.

Why, for example, while they were traveling from Nauvoo, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, to the Great Basin West, were the Mormon pioneers required to make their difficult way through and over the Rocky Mountains? Why, when they came from the Pacific coast, were they obliged to climb through the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains?

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. (Mark 11:23)

And why have the Saints of nineteenth-century Deseret, down unto the present day, been compelled to work hard to plough and to irrigate and to harvest? Did they really not understand that all they had to do was to produce five loaves of bread (or thereabouts) and then to multiply that bread in the style of Jesus to feed whatever size of group they needed to sustain?

Did the pioneer Saints and their successors not realize that they were never intended to work another day in their lives? That acceptance of the Restored Gospel meant the end of all problems and the immediate return of the Earth to its perfect paradisiacal state? That God’s plan for them was that they should live in complete ease, facing no obstacles or opposition or challenges?

“Be baptized a ‘Mormon.'” What a wonderful phrase!
“Be baptized a ‘Mormon.'” Ain’t no passin’ craze.
It means no worries for the rest of your days.
It’s our problem-free theology.
“Be baptized a ‘Mormon.'”

The interior of the Eccles Theater is quite attractive — at least as nice as any of the theaters that I’ve seen on Broadway or Off-Broadway. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

Friday was a busy day, though not an especially productive day in terms of writing or reading or tending to some of the fairly important administrative matters to which I need to devote my attention.

For family reasons, some of us spent much of the forepart of Friday on the scenic Alpine Loop, which is one of my favorite places in the state of Utah. Then we ate lunch — between us, sushi, a bento box, and chicken yakisoba — at a Japanese restaurant. I knew that I would be going out to dinner very soon, so my Japanese lunch was deliberately very modest. Shortly thereafter, my wife and I headed up with a friend to Brio Italian Grille in the City Creek area of Salt Lake City. My cup of mushroom soup was excellent, and the food that others ordered looked very good, as well, and they praised it. But I was at my limit.

The occasion of our drive up to Salt Lake was a performance of the musical Water for Elephants by a touring Broadway company at the magnificent George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater — which is within just a few feet of Brio Italian Grille. I’ve never seen the play before, nor read the original novel, nor seen the 2011 film, but, though once will probably be enough for me, I enjoyed the evening. The acting and staging were quite well done. And I must say that the puppetry was impressive, the choreography was very good, and the acrobatics nothing short of spectacular.

The Great Lakes of North America, emphasizing the once and future Lake Ontario (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I stand with Lake Ontario.

It’s located at the northern border of the United States of America (aka “South Canada”), just as the Gulf of Mexico is located at the southern border.

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