The Trial of Pagans

Abstract

This paper argues that Balagangadhara's (1994) account of the double dynamic of Christianity is persuasive and his use of it as a partial description of the West insightful. Doubts are raised about the author's ambition to embed that account in a theory of cultural difference and the philosophical difficulties involved in stating that theories are explored by setting up a dialogue between self-descriptions of some European pagan thinkers (primarily Wittgenstein and Nietzsche) and the author's partial description of the West. Interpreting the former as an attempt to 'reverse' or 'overcome' the 'category mistake' of the Christian West, the paper argues that 'we' too should see the dominant self-description of the West as a 'mistake' and further suggests that the issues raised by the trial of pagans concern a politics of self-description.