On a Provisional Finitude of Indebtedness

IF 0.3 0 RELIGION
V. Napolitano
{"title":"On a Provisional Finitude of Indebtedness","authors":"V. Napolitano","doi":"10.1080/1462317X.2022.2143138","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Short books can be powerful – for what they explicitly say and for what they allude in potentia. This is the case of Debt and Guilt: A Political Philosophy by Elettra Stimilli (2018), a lucid and masterly reading of generative connections between theology, politics and economics from the inception of Christianity to present. This book’s central idea is that there is a profound twofold link running through market capitalist economy and Christian political theology: at the center of this link there is, on the one hand, God’s gift of life to humans (as unrepayable debt) and, on the other, the guilt associated with the impossibility of redemption of this debt, if not only through sacrifice. Aimed for an interdisciplinary audience, the book structures the argument in a concise yet wideranging fashion through a review of political, theological and anthropological arguments. It also brings the discussion up to current themes such as the 2008 austerity experienced by southern EU countries and critiques a neoliberalist push toward a feminization of labor. The book relies on a methodological and political apparatus that spans from studies of German and Roman legal systems to anthropological theories of the gift and sacrifice, to critical theory and feminist takes on the psychic life of power. I want to dedicate the rest of this short response to highlighting, from an anthropological perspective, some features of these book’s approach that makes it remarkable for the breath, depth and conciseness of the argument, and then gesture toward some open-ended questions the book as a whole helps us to raise. Let me make here three short points to highlight Stimilli’s reflections on indebtedness, guilt and Capital. Stimilli’s analysis is primarily rooted in economics (oikonomia), theological and political formations anchored in a history of early Christianity, medieval theology, protestant spirit and Catholic affects. Hence first, Stimilli rightly points out the Pauline connection between saving and grace, where the bond of the flesh to sin can only be released by a christic act of sacrifice – the ultimate release of the flesh as a state of liberation (119). The debitum religionis that connects God and human beings is incarnated in the form of a liturgical office. Agamben sees this power of the Opus Dei seated in the figure of the priest and minister, through whose power “law and religion necessary coincides.” Stimilli then extends this argument to the figure of the “entrepreneur of oneself,” who in a capitalist economy does not “admit delegates” and continuously builds on himself as “human capital” (115). In Stimilli’s view, the ontological status of the entrepreneur of oneself – echoing a power of the liturgical office that cannot be affected by the performance of those who are holding it – has ethical","PeriodicalId":43759,"journal":{"name":"Political Theology","volume":"24 1","pages":"418 - 422"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Political Theology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2022.2143138","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Short books can be powerful – for what they explicitly say and for what they allude in potentia. This is the case of Debt and Guilt: A Political Philosophy by Elettra Stimilli (2018), a lucid and masterly reading of generative connections between theology, politics and economics from the inception of Christianity to present. This book’s central idea is that there is a profound twofold link running through market capitalist economy and Christian political theology: at the center of this link there is, on the one hand, God’s gift of life to humans (as unrepayable debt) and, on the other, the guilt associated with the impossibility of redemption of this debt, if not only through sacrifice. Aimed for an interdisciplinary audience, the book structures the argument in a concise yet wideranging fashion through a review of political, theological and anthropological arguments. It also brings the discussion up to current themes such as the 2008 austerity experienced by southern EU countries and critiques a neoliberalist push toward a feminization of labor. The book relies on a methodological and political apparatus that spans from studies of German and Roman legal systems to anthropological theories of the gift and sacrifice, to critical theory and feminist takes on the psychic life of power. I want to dedicate the rest of this short response to highlighting, from an anthropological perspective, some features of these book’s approach that makes it remarkable for the breath, depth and conciseness of the argument, and then gesture toward some open-ended questions the book as a whole helps us to raise. Let me make here three short points to highlight Stimilli’s reflections on indebtedness, guilt and Capital. Stimilli’s analysis is primarily rooted in economics (oikonomia), theological and political formations anchored in a history of early Christianity, medieval theology, protestant spirit and Catholic affects. Hence first, Stimilli rightly points out the Pauline connection between saving and grace, where the bond of the flesh to sin can only be released by a christic act of sacrifice – the ultimate release of the flesh as a state of liberation (119). The debitum religionis that connects God and human beings is incarnated in the form of a liturgical office. Agamben sees this power of the Opus Dei seated in the figure of the priest and minister, through whose power “law and religion necessary coincides.” Stimilli then extends this argument to the figure of the “entrepreneur of oneself,” who in a capitalist economy does not “admit delegates” and continuously builds on himself as “human capital” (115). In Stimilli’s view, the ontological status of the entrepreneur of oneself – echoing a power of the liturgical office that cannot be affected by the performance of those who are holding it – has ethical
论债务的暂时有限性
短篇小说可以是强大的——因为它们明确地说了什么,也因为它们潜在地暗示了什么。这就是埃莱特拉·斯蒂米利(Elettra Stimilli)的《债务与罪恶:一种政治哲学》(2018)的例子,这本书清晰而娴熟地解读了从基督教诞生到现在神学、政治和经济之间的生成联系。本书的中心思想是,市场资本主义经济和基督教政治神学之间存在着深刻的双重联系:在这种联系的中心,一方面是上帝给人类的生命礼物(作为无法偿还的债务),另一方面是与这种债务不可能偿还有关的内疚,如果不通过牺牲的话。针对跨学科的观众,这本书结构的论点在一个简洁而广泛的时尚通过审查政治,神学和人类学的论点。它还将讨论带到当前的主题,如2008年欧盟南部国家经历的紧缩政策,并批评新自由主义推动劳动力女性化。这本书依赖于方法论和政治工具,从对德国和罗马法律制度的研究到对礼物和牺牲的人类学理论,再到对权力精神生活的批判理论和女权主义。我想在接下来的简短回答中,从人类学的角度,强调这本书的一些特点,这些特点使它的论点引人注目,深度和简洁,然后指向这本书作为一个整体帮助我们提出的一些开放式问题。在此,我想简要说明三点,以突出斯蒂米利对负债、内疚和资本的思考。斯蒂米利的分析主要植根于经济学(经济学)、神学和政治形成,这些形成植根于早期基督教、中世纪神学、新教精神和天主教影响的历史。因此,首先,Stimilli正确地指出了保罗在救赎和恩典之间的联系,其中肉体与罪的联系只能通过基督的牺牲行为来释放——肉体的最终释放是一种解放状态(119)。连接上帝和人类的debitum religionis以礼仪办公室的形式体现出来。阿甘本认为,主业工会的这种权力体现在牧师和牧师身上,通过他们的权力,“法律和宗教必然是一致的”。Stimilli随后将这一论点扩展到“自我企业家”的形象,他们在资本主义经济中不“承认代表”,并不断地将自己作为“人力资本”(115)。在斯蒂米利看来,自我企业家的本体论地位——呼应了礼仪办公室的力量,这种力量不受持有它的人的表现的影响——具有伦理性
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Political Theology
Political Theology RELIGION-
CiteScore
0.50
自引率
0.00%
发文量
97
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信