Jacques Derrida and the »Desertification« of the Messianic

In his writings, Jacques Derrida adopts an ambivalent stance towards messianism: he adheres to a »messianic experience,« calling for readiness to whatever is about to come, but distances himself from the historical content of messianism. He suggests understanding the relation between the messianic structure and its content through a process of »desertification,« arguing that if we strip messianic narratives from their content, we find a structural experience of anticipation, or a »desert-like messianism.« Although Derrida's perception of messianism has received attention, scholars have refrained from examining the procedure of desertification and its implications for religious sources. In this paper I fill that lacuna and argue that desertification functions as a radical intervention in tradition, substantiating my argument by addressing the way Derrida »desertifies« the talmudic tale about the messiah at the gates of Rome. I demonstrate how Derrida strips the story of its content and turns the protagonist into an agent of deconstruction.