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Abstract Five years ago, a new three volume edition of Eugen Rosenstock-
Huessy (to translate) In the Cross of Reality: A Post-Goethean Sociology
appeared in Germany. As with the two prior editions of the work (a one volume
version in 1925, and a much revised and expanded two volume version 1956/8)
it met with almost no critical response. This is perhaps not surprising - and
it barely mentions any other sociologists, its approach is highly
idiosyncratic, it is as much anthropology and history as it is sociology.
Indeed, the second and third volumes mainly focus on the social formations of
antiquity, and the role of Christianity and the messianic revolutions of the
last millennium in creating a universal history. In this paper I take the
relationship between speech, time and suffering as the key to
Rosenstock-Huessy?s argument for why a theoretical grasp of Christianity as a
social power is so important for social theory, and why he sees Sociology as
a post-Christian form of knowledge. I also make the case for why
Rosenstock-Huessy is an interesting and important social theorist.