Bernard Faure
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839338
- eISBN:
- 9780824868260
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839338.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
The book constitutes an attempt to rethink medieval Japanese religion in light of the recently discovered documents and of the innovative contributions by Japanese scholars. Drawing on the ...
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The book constitutes an attempt to rethink medieval Japanese religion in light of the recently discovered documents and of the innovative contributions by Japanese scholars. Drawing on the theoretical insights of structuralism, post-structuralism, and Actor-Network Theory, it retrieves what could be called the “implicit pantheon” (by opposition to the “explicit,” orthodox pantheon) of medieval esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō). Through a number of case studies, the book introduces readers to the labyrinthine world of medieval Japanese religiosity, and shows the centrality of the gods in religious discourse and practice. It describes and analyzes the impressive mythological and ritual efflorescence that marked the medieval period, not only in the religious domain, but also in the political, artistic, and literary spheres. While the individual chapters of the book give seem to follow the general taxonomic structure of the esoteric Buddhist pantheon, the proliferation of oblique relationships within and between chapters undermines that hierarchical structure and reveals the existence of a complex network, linking, not only deities, but also rituals, symbols, people, institutions, sacred objects and places.Less
The book constitutes an attempt to rethink medieval Japanese religion in light of the recently discovered documents and of the innovative contributions by Japanese scholars. Drawing on the theoretical insights of structuralism, post-structuralism, and Actor-Network Theory, it retrieves what could be called the “implicit pantheon” (by opposition to the “explicit,” orthodox pantheon) of medieval esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō). Through a number of case studies, the book introduces readers to the labyrinthine world of medieval Japanese religiosity, and shows the centrality of the gods in religious discourse and practice. It describes and analyzes the impressive mythological and ritual efflorescence that marked the medieval period, not only in the religious domain, but also in the political, artistic, and literary spheres. While the individual chapters of the book give seem to follow the general taxonomic structure of the esoteric Buddhist pantheon, the proliferation of oblique relationships within and between chapters undermines that hierarchical structure and reveals the existence of a complex network, linking, not only deities, but also rituals, symbols, people, institutions, sacred objects and places.
Doreen Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781496831798
- eISBN:
- 9781496831842
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496831798.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
Doreen Fowler takes a new approach to O’Connor by showing how her fiction both anticipates and revises the work of Jacques Lacan. Though others have used Lacan to read O’Connor’s fiction, this ...
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Doreen Fowler takes a new approach to O’Connor by showing how her fiction both anticipates and revises the work of Jacques Lacan. Though others have used Lacan to read O’Connor’s fiction, this chapter is the first to note that both authors’ explorations of mystery (psychological for Lacan and theological for O’Connor) center around language, which they recognize as an obstacle to transcendent meaning. Fowler ultimately rereads the Lacanian Real as O’Connor’s encounter with the Divine Life, arguing that what Lacan sees as coming to the end of meaning making is what O’Connor sees as the precondition for grace.Less
Doreen Fowler takes a new approach to O’Connor by showing how her fiction both anticipates and revises the work of Jacques Lacan. Though others have used Lacan to read O’Connor’s fiction, this chapter is the first to note that both authors’ explorations of mystery (psychological for Lacan and theological for O’Connor) center around language, which they recognize as an obstacle to transcendent meaning. Fowler ultimately rereads the Lacanian Real as O’Connor’s encounter with the Divine Life, arguing that what Lacan sees as coming to the end of meaning making is what O’Connor sees as the precondition for grace.
Kevin Attell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823262045
- eISBN:
- 9780823266319
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823262045.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This book traces Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben's engagement with deconstructive thought from his early work to the present, showing how consistently and closely Agamben takes up (critically, ...
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This book traces Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben's engagement with deconstructive thought from his early work to the present, showing how consistently and closely Agamben takes up (critically, sympathetically, polemically – and very often implicitly) the work of Jacques Derrida as his chief contemporary interlocutor. At its most fundamental level, Agamben's thought has been viewed as descending primarily from the work of Heidegger, Benjamin, and, more recently, Foucault. This book, however, complicates and expands that constellation by showing that any understanding of Agamben that does not take his relation to Derrida into account remains incomplete. Divided into two roughly chronological parts, the book begins with a section titled “First Principles” that examines the development of Agamben's key concepts – infancy, Voice, potentiality – from the 1960s to approximately 1990 and traces the way these concepts consistently draw on and respond to specific texts and concepts in Derrida's work. The second part, titled “Strategy without Finality or Means without End,” examines the political turn in Agamben's and Derrida's thinking from about 1990 onward, beginning with their crucial investigations of sovereignty and violence and moving through their parallel treatments of juridical power, the relation between humans and animals, and finally messianism and the politics to come.Less
This book traces Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben's engagement with deconstructive thought from his early work to the present, showing how consistently and closely Agamben takes up (critically, sympathetically, polemically – and very often implicitly) the work of Jacques Derrida as his chief contemporary interlocutor. At its most fundamental level, Agamben's thought has been viewed as descending primarily from the work of Heidegger, Benjamin, and, more recently, Foucault. This book, however, complicates and expands that constellation by showing that any understanding of Agamben that does not take his relation to Derrida into account remains incomplete. Divided into two roughly chronological parts, the book begins with a section titled “First Principles” that examines the development of Agamben's key concepts – infancy, Voice, potentiality – from the 1960s to approximately 1990 and traces the way these concepts consistently draw on and respond to specific texts and concepts in Derrida's work. The second part, titled “Strategy without Finality or Means without End,” examines the political turn in Agamben's and Derrida's thinking from about 1990 onward, beginning with their crucial investigations of sovereignty and violence and moving through their parallel treatments of juridical power, the relation between humans and animals, and finally messianism and the politics to come.
Kevin Attell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823262045
- eISBN:
- 9780823266319
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823262045.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This introduction presents the book's central argument, namely, that Agamben's thought has been engaged, from its earliest moments (at least since 1968), in a critical reading of the work and thought ...
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This introduction presents the book's central argument, namely, that Agamben's thought has been engaged, from its earliest moments (at least since 1968), in a critical reading of the work and thought of Jacques Derrida, and that this continuing engagement has been generative of many of Agamben's central concepts throughout his career. It includes a survey of the book's six chapters and the concepts at stake in each, including semiology, voice, différance, potentiality, sovereignty, the human, temporality, and messianism.Less
This introduction presents the book's central argument, namely, that Agamben's thought has been engaged, from its earliest moments (at least since 1968), in a critical reading of the work and thought of Jacques Derrida, and that this continuing engagement has been generative of many of Agamben's central concepts throughout his career. It includes a survey of the book's six chapters and the concepts at stake in each, including semiology, voice, différance, potentiality, sovereignty, the human, temporality, and messianism.