Rejoicing Or the Torments of Religious Speech

Bruno Latour’s long term project is to compare the felicityand infelicity conditions of the different values dearest to theheart of those who have ‘never been modern’. Accordingto him, this is the only way to develop an anthropology of theModerns. After his work on science, on technology and, morerecently, on law, this book explores the truth conditions ofreligious speech acts. Even though there is no question that religion is one of the valuesthat has been intensely cherished in the course of history,it’s also clear that it has become immensely difficult totune in to its highly specific mode of enunciation. Every effort tospeak in the right key sounds awkward, reactionary, pious or simplyempty. Hence the necessity of devising a way of writing that bringsto the fore this elusive form of speech to render it audible again.In this highly original book, the author offers a completelydifferent tack on the endless ‘science and religion’conflict by protecting them both from the confusion with the notionof information. Like The Making of Law, this book is one moreattempt at developing this ‘inquiry on modes ofexistence’ that provides an alternative definition ofsociety.