In The Time That Remains, Agamben seeks to separate the Pauline texts from the history of the Church that canonized them, thus revealing them to be "the fundamental messianic texts of the West.

In this second set of essays, Dai Qing aims her literary gun at several targets—both to the political left and right. At the same time, she reveals a certain tough-mindedness on policy issues in China and a strong sense of nationalism, views that are not generally associated with intellectuals of her political and cultural stripe.