Figura Mesjasza. Próba konstrukcji pojęcia

The attempt to construct the philosophical concept of the "messiah" takes place in several steps. The starting point is Agamben's commentary on The Book of Romans of St. Paul. On the basis of this text I reconstruct the messianic structure. At one crucial point the structure coincides with Heidegger’s commentary on St. Paul. It is in light of these preliminary findings that I read the latter’s essay Overcoming Metaphysics. Thanks to this I reveal the structural similarities between Paul's messianic figure and the structure of overcoming metaphysics. In the context of Contributions to philosophy it appears that according to Agamben's version this structure lacks an important point, namely the expectation that constitutes messianic time. I argue that even Derrida's deconstruction project can be interpreted within this framework. In this light I consider the Agamben's objection to Derrida. Finally, I conclude that the structure reconstructed on the basis of Agamben's text is incomplete.