Feminism, Religion and This Incredible Need to Believe: Working with Julia Kristeva Again

Abstract

In This Incredible Need to Believe (2009), philosopher Julia Kristeva identifies the present as a time of crisis identified with ‘ideality’; historically significant cultural idealizations are failing us, leading to social and cultural breakdown, which Kristeva believes is not being addressed in ‘secular’ western societies. Remarkably, she defends the universal significance of what she defines as ‘belief’, revisiting earlier work on language, literature and the unconscious, against the background of a recent revival of interest in ‘religion’. In an introductory way, this article outlines ways in which Kristeva’s analysis can help feminist readers to take bearings at this time.