Giorgio Agamben’s The Time That Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans is a dense and provocative work that boldly seeks to unravel the Pauline Epistles from the historical and theological entanglements of the Church, restoring them to what Agamben identifies as their original messianic context. Not merely an exegesis, the work is a philosophical and theological intervention that reinterprets Paul’s letters as the foundational messianic texts of Western thought, fundamentally altering our understanding of both Pauline doctrine and the broader framework of Judeo-Christianity.
Agamben’s thesis is as ambitious as it is controversial: he posits that Paul’s writings are not to be understood as the cornerstone of a nascent Christian religion but rather as a radical announcement of the messianic time—a time that remains, a time outside and beyond the traditional bounds of law and religion. By emphasizing Paul’s notion of the ho nyn kairos or the “time of the now,” Agamben situates Paul within the rich tradition of Jewish messianism, before the definitive separation of Judaism and Christianity. This period, often referred to as “Judaeo-Christianity,” is crucial to Agamben’s analysis as it represents a time when the boundaries between these two religions were still fluid and indistinct, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of Paul’s message.
Central to Agamben’s interpretation is the concept of remaining time—a notion that Paul introduces and which Agamben traces through the paths of early Jewish and Christian thought, leading ultimately to the philosophy of Walter Benjamin. In a move that is both daring and illuminating, Agamben draws a striking parallel between Paul’s conception of time and Benjamin’s philosophy of history, particularly as expressed in the latter’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” Agamben’s comparison reveals hitherto unrecognized affinities between the two thinkers, arguing that Benjamin’s historical materialism can be seen as a secularized repetition of Paul’s messianism, where history is conceived not as a linear progression but as a series of interruptions, a continuous now, charged with the potential for redemption.
Agamben’s engagement with Benjamin is not a mere historical exercise; it is an attempt to reinvigorate contemporary thought with the radical potential of the messianic. By bringing Paul and Benjamin into dialogue, Agamben challenges the reader to reconsider the very nature of time, history, and law. He asserts that the messianic time that Paul describes is a time that interrupts the law, a time that cannot be assimilated into the chronological order of history. This time, which is neither fully present nor fully absent, defies the logic of both historical determinism and theological teleology. It is a time of pure potentiality, a time that always remains, awaiting fulfilment.
In this way, Agamben’s work is as much a commentary on the present as it is on the past. The messianic time he describes is not confined to the first century but is a persistent possibility within every historical moment—a time that remains open, awaiting the transformative event that will bring about the new, the unforeseen. This is where Agamben’s work resonates most powerfully with contemporary concerns: in a world increasingly dominated by the rigid structures of law and power, the concept of a remaining time—a time that resists closure, that remains perpetually open to change—offers a radical alternative to the prevailing order.
Yet Agamben’s analysis is not merely abstract. His close readings of the Pauline texts are both rigorous and deeply insightful, demonstrating a profound understanding of the historical, linguistic, and theological contexts in which these texts were produced. His commentary is philologically precise, yet always oriented towards the broader philosophical implications of Paul’s thought. Agamben articulates the language of the Epistles, revealing the layers of meaning that have been obscured by centuries of doctrinal interpretation. In doing so, he restores to Paul’s words their original urgency and power, showing them to be not merely the seeds of a new religious institution but a radical call to live in the time that remains—a time that demands an active and engaged response.
Moreover, Agamben’s work is deeply intertextual, engaging not only with the Pauline Epistles and Benjamin’s writings but also with a wide range of other texts, from early Jewish apocalyptic literature to modern philosophical works. This intertextuality is not merely decorative but serves to situate Agamben’s argument within a broader intellectual tradition, demonstrating the continuity of messianic thought across different epochs and disciplines. By drawing on such a diverse array of sources, Agamben shows that the questions raised by Paul’s letters—questions of law, time, and redemption—are not confined to the theological sphere but are of central importance to philosophy, politics, and culture.
In The Time That Remains, Agamben also challenges the conventional opposition between Judaism and Hellenism, an opposition that has shaped much of Western thought. By emphasizing the Jewish roots of Paul’s thought and its complex relationship with Greek culture, Agamben complicates the simplistic binaries that have often been used to interpret Paul’s writings. He shows that Paul’s Greek is not the classical Greek of Plato or Aristotle, nor is it the Greek of the Hellenistic philosophers, but rather a hybrid language—a Judeo-Greek that reflects the complex cultural and linguistic milieu of the Jewish Diaspora. This linguistic hybridity, Agamben argues, is not merely a historical accident but is central to the messianic nature of Paul’s message, which seeks to transcend the boundaries of language and culture in the same way that it seeks to transcend the boundaries of law and religion.
Agamben’s book, therefore, is not simply a commentary on Paul’s letters; it is an exposition of the nature of time, law, and history. It invites the reader to reconsider the role of messianism in Western thought and to recognize the enduring relevance of Paul’s message in our own time. By restoring Paul’s letters to their original messianic context, Agamben not only challenges the traditional interpretations of these texts but also opens up new possibilities for understanding the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, between philosophy and theology, and between the past and the present.
In conclusion, The Time That Remains is a work of immense erudition and philosophical depth, one that demands careful and attentive reading. It is a book that challenges its readers to think deeply about the nature of time and history, about the relationship between law and grace, and about the possibility of redemption in a world that often seems closed to the new and the unforeseen. Agamben’s commentary on the Letter to the Romans is a radical rethinking of some of the most fundamental concepts of Western thought, offering a vision of messianic time that remains as relevant today as it was in Paul’s time.
Simon Gros 
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