The Repetition of Belief

This chapter hinges around Deleuze’s call to “transform” belief: “Only belief in the world can reconnect man to what he sees and hears … Whether we are Christians or Atheists, in our universal schizophrenia, we need reasons to believe in this world. It is a whole transformation of belief” (C2, 172). This statement is unpacked by engaging the concept of belief as it is understood in religious studies, theology, and Continental philosophy, all of which challenge the Protestant conception of belief as strictly interior and personal. The overall result is a concept of belief imbued and intertwined with affect—believing in the world is an immanent faith that heightens our attachment and connection to our embeddedness in the world as a means of overcoming resentment. In relation to this, I offer a new reading of the death of God—one free of its Hegelianism—via Deleuze’s reading of Kierkegaard.