Freud, Nietzsche and Marx, the big atheists that shaped 20th century culture are nothing compared to the powers of St. Paul. He provided contemporary philosophy with the model of subjectivity par excellence. Heidegger was the most influential philosopher in the past century. His most important work was undoubtedly Being and Time. It was an attempt to ground ontology in the transcendental structure of subjectivity. But unlike Kant, the transcendental subject would have no categories at hand, no pure concepts to apprehend being. The only category Heidegger retained was possibility. The concept of time as openness fitted well the exigences of radical possibility. This transcendental subjectivity was called “Dasein”, concrete existence, the hic et nunc of Being. Being was reduced to appearance, appearance to understanding (verstehen). Ontology was no longer a question on Beingm but its meaning (Sinn des Seins). Of course, only Dasein is capable of understanding. But understanding is nothing but self-relation, self-understanding of our possibilities of existence.
Now, where does Dasein come from? Heidegger’s early lessons on phenomenology of religion examined the figure of St. Paul. His reading was highly influenced by Kierkegaard. For him God leaves the objective world to dwell in the spirit. Now, God is reached only by a leap of faith, a salto mortale beyond knowledge and the world. St Paul offered the model for such a transformation of spirit. Heidegger’s Dasein retains key features of Kierkegaard’s Paul. Paul is the subjective hero para excellence, more potent that Nietzsche’s Übermensch or Marx’s proletariat. Paul was also the central figure for the political theology of Benjamin (messianism), Taubes and Schmitt. Finally, Badiou had the courage to acknowledge that contemporary philosophy was a philosophy of the subject, modelled by the figure of St. Paul. Politics was thus explained through revelation, faith, conversion and practice. Revelation was called “event”. Faith was called subjectivation. Practice was called militance. From left to right, from existentialism to Marxism, St. Paul was the saint of saints. Our saint.