Adorno and the Question of Theology

Adorno and the Question of Theology: Religion and Reason Beyond Foundations begins with a pressing question: can we move beyond the religious–secular divide and live together ethically in a shared political world?

This book argues that Theodor W. Adorno—one of the twentieth century’s most influential yet often misunderstood thinkers—shows that we can.

Adorno mobilizes theological language together with secular categories of thought to develop a way of thinking beyond the foundations of these traditions. At the center of this approach is the concept of constellation: a mode of thought that brings concepts into relation without subsuming them under a fixed system. Such thinking resists the rigid opposition of “religious” and “secular” by showing how meaning can emerge without appeal to ultimate grounds. Far from a rhetorical ornament or a disguised theological position, Adorno’s use of theology offers a model for reflection, judgment, and ethical responsiveness.

Positioning itself against influential “inverse theology” and “negative theology” interpretations, this study shows how Adorno’s theological language functions as a model for thinking critically beyond the given. Through close readings of Dialectic of Enlightenment, Negative Dialectics, and Aesthetic Theory, it demonstrates how Adorno reconfigures both reason and theology to confront the fragmentation of modern life. In doing so, the book challenges current paradigms in social theory, moves past long-standing impasses in Adorno scholarship, and provides new orientation for contemporary critical theory, political thought, and philosophy of religion.

Written with philosophical precision and clarity, the book makes the case for Adorno’s continued relevance and articulates a method of critique capable of engaging ethical pluralism amid the urgent challenges of our time. Accessible to newcomers and illuminating for specialists, it serves both as an introduction to Adorno’s comprehensive philosophy and as a path beyond enduring paradoxes in his reception.