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The Profanation of Revelation: On Language and Immanence in the Work of Giorgio Agamben
Angelaki
  • Colby Dickinson, Loyola University Chicago
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2014
Abstract

This essay seeks to articulate the many implications which Giorgio Agamben's work holds for theology. It aims, therefore, to examine his (re)conceptualizations of language in light of particular historical glosses on the “name of God” and the nature of the “mystical,” as well as to highlight the political task of profanation, one of his most central concepts, in relation to the logos said to embody humanity's “religious” quest to find its Voice. As such, we see how he challenges those standard (ontotheological) notions of transcendence which have been consistently aligned with various historical forms of sovereignty. In addition, I intend to present his redefinition of revelation as solely the unveiling of the “name of God” as the fact of our linguistic being, a movement from the transcendent divine realm to the merely human world before us. By proceeding in this manner, this essay tries to close in on one of the largest theological implications contained within Agamben's work: the establishment of an ontology that could only be described as a form of “absolute” immanence, an espousal of some form of pantheism (or perhaps panentheism) yet to be more fully pronounced within his writings.

Publisher Name
Taylor & Francis
Comments

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Angelaki, Volume 19, Issue 1, 2014 © Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0969725X.2014.920632.

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Citation Information
Colby Dickinson. "The Profanation of Revelation: On Language and Immanence in the Work of Giorgio Agamben" Angelaki Vol. 19 Iss. 1 (2014)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/colby_dickinson/6/