Posted by Peter Kirby at 2:55 PM | Permalink

As reported by the BBC, the famous and influential philosopher Jacques Derrida has passed away at the age of 74. He has affected all fields of study where the interpretation of literature takes place, including study of the Bible. His visage would aptly feature in any entry on Post-Modernism or Deconstruction in an encyclopedia, and his writings were voluminous. Yet as great as his intellectual products are, as Derrida said in 1994, "A man's life, as unique as his death, will always be more than a paradigm and something other than a symbol." He has some cause for spinning in the grave already, given the great amount of criticism and misunderstanding of Derrida's work that has been made and the even greater amount that will be made. But please, whatever your philosophical ideas, join me in wishing Derrida to rest in peace.