A dialogue in the problem field of Christian ethics (developing Bakhtinian concepts)

Abstract

The paper applies Bakhtinian categories of dialogueness and attitude to the Other to the problematic field of the Christian ethics. In the postmodern situation Bakhtin’s dialogueness conflicts with its own totality of the carnival, which unites everybody in the grotesque body of the folk culture. If we approach laughter not only as an emotional

and volitional manifestation of this culture, and joy as a manifestation of the   position incompatible with it, but treat both of them also as attitudes towards the Other, including God, then this interpretation does not only reconcile Bakhtinian concepts between themselves, but explains his theory’s relevance for the postmodern theology.