by deconstruction, which I am presenting as the hermeneutics of the kingdom of God. To that end I want to sketch out in this chapter some features of the slightly Jewish-Augustinian reading I am giving of Derrida, according to which deconstruction can be seen—not without controversy—as a form of prayer. In the view I take of deconstruction, we are constantly praying for something that has already happened but is always arriving, for something remembered but also promised, for something nameless that