I a NEW ANTHROPOLOGY for ECOTHEOLOGY: RETHINKING
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A NEW ANTHROPOLOGY FOR ECOTHEOLOGY: RETHINKING THE HUMAN IN THE WORLD WITH MERLEAU-PONTY’S PHENOMENOLOGY OF FLESH By Dorothy Chappell Dean Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Religion May 11, 2018 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Ellen T. Armour, Ph.D. Paul J. Dehart, Ph.D. Kelly Oliver, Ph.D. Laurel C. Schneider, Ph.D. i To the memory of my mother, whose accomplishments inspired me to persevere, and to Jarod, the best partner anyone could ask for. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Vanderbilt University’s GDR, the dedicated theology faculty, and my committee, for making this dissertation possible. An especially big thank you to my advisor, Ellen, for providing an open-minded sounding board for my ideas, and for your patient and detailed constructive criticism over the life of this project. You have made me a better writer and theologian. Thank you to my students at Antioch College; our classroom discussions illuminated new aspects of texts that I thought I already knew, and enriched this dissertation. I am grateful to the Religion and Ecology Unit of the AAR; being able to present elements of this research there aided me immensely in articulating my perspective. This project would not exist were it not for Kelly Oliver’s seminar Continental Philosophy and Animals, which introduced me to Merleau-Ponty and Toadvine. Thank you to my friend and colleague Ryan Brand, who encouraged me to enroll in Kelly’s class in the first place, and whose enthusiasm for animals and philosophy empowered me to embrace my secret passion for ecotheology. The journey has been made infinitely more bearable by the comraderie of my peers, especially Laura Rosser Kreiselmeier, modeling the kind of in-touch-ness with one’s creative spirit to which I aspire; Lauren Smelser-White, my steadfast and encouraging fellow woman-in- theology; Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, writing accountability buddy, AAR roomie, and my very first friend at Vanderbilt. You have all encouraged and inspired me more than you can know. Finally, I am grateful to my family for all their love and support. To my dad, for believing in me. To Anna and Sarah, my awesome step-daughters, for your patience with the time I had to spend at my desk. To T.W.D.R., whose impending arrival motivated me to finish already. And most of all, to Jarod, for keeping me fed both physically and emotionally during the dog days of writing; your understanding and support kept me going and saw me through to the finish line. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I. Towards a Theological Anthropology of Human Non-Exceptionalism .................................... 11 Introducing the Problem ................................................................................................ 11 Ecofeminist Theology: State of the Field .................................................................. 14 The Big Lie: Revaluation of Material Things ............................................................... 19 Introducing the Concept: Mary Daly’s Beyond God The Father .............................. 20 Linking the Lie to Ecology: Rosemary Radford Ruether’s Sexism And God-Talk ... 22 Building a Theology to Combat the Lie: McFague’s The Body Of God .................. 27 A Different Approach To Ethics ............................................................................... 38 Beyond Ecofeminism .................................................................................................... 40 Catherine Keller: Uncovering the Generative Matrix ............................................... 45 Anthropology in Bauman: A Matter of Identities ..................................................... 47 My Proposal: An Anthropology for the Material Turn ................................................. 49 Radical Materiality .................................................................................................... 51 No Future .................................................................................................................. 52 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 53 II. Methodology: Toward a Radical, Naturalistic Ecotheological Anthropology ......................... 57 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 57 Naturalism ..................................................................................................................... 59 Radical Theology .......................................................................................................... 64 Theopoetics ................................................................................................................... 69 Theopoetics and Ecotheology ................................................................................... 73 Approaching Anthropology .......................................................................................... 75 Why Merleau-Ponty? .................................................................................................... 80 Introducing Merleau-Ponty ....................................................................................... 85 The Later Merleau-Ponty .......................................................................................... 91 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 94 III. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Ontological Difference ................................................................. 99 Introduction: Using Merleau-Ponty for Ecotheological Anthropology ........................ 99 Critiquing Descartes .................................................................................................... 102 The Emptiness Of The World ................................................................................. 104 The Problem of the Objective Observer .................................................................. 109 iv An Embodied Methodology ........................................................................................ 112 Redefining the Human Being for a Non-Exceptionalist Theological Anthropology .. 120 The Chiasm ............................................................................................................. 121 Redefining Human Being ........................................................................................ 124 Materializing Transcendent Experience ...................................................................... 126 Flesh: A Pregnancy of Possibilities ......................................................................... 126 Invisibility and Theological Thought ...................................................................... 131 Reflection and Interrogation ................................................................................... 134 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 141 IV. Anthropology Without Anthropology: a Nonexceptionalist Theology of Human Being .... 143 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 143 Apophatic anthropology .............................................................................................. 145 A Merleau-Pontian Apophatic Anthropology ......................................................... 148 “Religious Experience” ........................................................................................... 152 Experiences of Dependence and Connection .............................................................. 154 Inscendence ............................................................................................................. 160 Notes on the World and God ....................................................................................... 167 World: Replacing Creatio Ex Nihilo with Aliquid Aeternaliter .............................. 168 Experiencing God .................................................................................................... 171 Theology ................................................................................................................. 177 Conclusion: The World as my Body ........................................................................... 178 V. Theoretical Implications of a Nonexceptionalist Anthropology ............................................ 181 Ecofeminist implications: ethical commitments ......................................................... 181 Ethics Beyond Exceptionalism? .............................................................................. 182 The Problem of “Evil” ............................................................................................ 192 Feminist Dimensions of Nonexceptionalist Anthropology ..................................... 195 Theological Implications: What