Simone Weil's political theology
This article suggests that Simone Weil's political theology is characterized by the idea of labor and the event of laboring. I begin by arguing that her thinking is shaped by a materialist reading of Christianity that employs Marx's concepts - labor, capital and alienation - to examine the...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2016]
|
| In: |
Political theology
Year: 2016, Volume: 17, Issue: 3, Pages: 226-242 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Weil, Simone 1909-1943
/ Political theology
/ Work
/ Marx, Karl 1818-1883
|
| RelBib Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics NCC Social ethics NCD Political ethics VA Philosophy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article suggests that Simone Weil's political theology is characterized by the idea of labor and the event of laboring. I begin by arguing that her thinking is shaped by a materialist reading of Christianity that employs Marx's concepts - labor, capital and alienation - to examine the political implications of three theological ideas, fall, slavery and sin. Next, I suggest that although laboring should be understood as a creative endeavor, Weil argues that it is always conditioned and constrained by a force she terms social matter. This constraint produces what Marx called alienation and Weil will refer to as enslavement (and even sin). Finally, I contend that Weil's idea of labor - and its call for a minimization of constraint - provides a counter-force to social matter. I conclude by suggesting that Weil's labor provides a different way of conceptualizing not just the political subject, but political theology itself. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1462-317X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Political theology
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2016.1187907 |