Wotherspoon, Iain David (2016) Original sin: divine and symbolic violence in the turn to the Apostle Paul. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/7331/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Original Sin Divine and Symbolic Violence in the Turn to the Apostle Paul Iain David Wotherspoon B.D., M.Litt. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology and Religious Studies Theology and Religious Studies School of Critical Studies College of Arts University of Glasgow May 2016 © Iain Wotherspoon 2016 2 Abstract When we take a step back from the imposing figure of physical violence, it becomes possible to examine other structurally violent forces that constantly shape our cultural and political landscapes. One of the driving interests in the “turn to Paul” in recent continental philosophy stems from wrestling with questions about the real nature of contemporary violence. Paul is positioned as a thinker whose messianic experience began to cut through the violent masquerade of the existing order. The crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah (a slave and a God co-existing in one body) exposed the empty grounding upon which power resided. The Christ-event signifies a moment of violent interruption in the existing order which Paul enjoins the Gentiles to participate in through a dedication of love for the neighbour. This divine violence aims to reveal and subvert the “powers,” epitomised in the Roman Empire, in order to fulfil the labour of the Messianic now-time which had arrived. The impetus behind this research comes from a typically enigmatic and provocative section of text by the Slovene philosopher, cultural critic, and Christian atheist Slavoj Žižek. He claims that 'the notion of love should be given here all its Paulinian weight: the domain of pure violence… is the domain of love' (2008a, 173). In this move he links Paul’s idea of love to that of Walter Benjamin’s divine violence; the sublime and the cataclysmic come together in this seemingly perverse notion. At stake here is the way in which uncovering violent forces in the “zero-level” of our narrative worldviews aids the diagnosis of contemporary political and ethical issues. It is not enough to imagine Paul’s encounter with the Christ-event as non-violent. This Jewish apocalyptic movement was engaged in a violent struggle within an existing order that God’s wrath will soon dismantle. Paul’s weak violence, inspired by his fidelity to the Christ-event, places all responsibility over creation in the role of the individual within the collective body. The centre piece of this re-imagined construction of the Pauline narrative comes in Romans 13: the violent dedication to love understood in the radical nature of the now-time. 3 This research examines the role that narratives play in the creation and diagnosis of these violent forces. In order to construct a new genealogy of violence in Christianity it is crucial to understand the role of the slave of Christ (the revolutionary messianic subject). This turn in the Symbolic is examined through creating a literary structure in which we can approach a radical Nietzschean shift in Pauline thought. The claim here, a claim which is also central to Paul’s letters, is that when the symbolic violence which manipulates our worldviews is undone by a divine violence, if even for a moment, new possibilities are created in the opening for a transvaluation of values. Through this we uncover the nature of original sin: the consequences of the interconnected reality of our actions. The role of literature is vital in the construction of this narrative; starting with Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, and continuing through works such as Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, this thesis draws upon the power of literature in the shaping of our narrative worlds. Typical of the continental philosophy at the heart of this work, a diverse range of illustrations and inspirations from fiction is pulled into its narrative to reflect the symbolic universe that this work was forged through. What this work attempts to do is give this theory a greater grounding in Paul’s letters by demonstrating this radical kenotic power at the heart of the Christ-event. Romans 13 reveals, in a way that has not yet been picked up by Critchley, Žižek, and others, that Paul opposed the biopolitical power of the Roman Empire through the weak violence of love that is the labour of the slaves of Christ on the “now-time” that had arrived. 4 Contents Acknowledgements 7 Introduction Violence and Truth 8 An Overview 13 Violence, the Turn to Paul, and Literature 19 Chapter One: Symbolic Violence in a Divine Economy 1.1 No Country for Old Men 38 1.1.1 Cormac McCarthy and the Nature of Violence 39 1.1.2 The Violence behind Anton Chigurh 41 1.1.3 The Transgression 43 1.2 Symbolic Violence 48 1.2.1 Violence as a Work of Love 50 1.2.2 The Joker 52 1.2.3 Zero-Level Violence 54 1.2.4 The Symbolic 56 1.3 Job and the Divine Economy 62 1.3.1 The Man Who Was Thursday 65 1.3.2 Philippians 2.6-11: Christ’s Self-emptying 69 1.3.3 Measure for Measure 74 Chapter Two: Divine Violence 2.1 Yahweh 77 2.1.1 Paul’s Yahweh: The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart 78 2.1.2 The Violence of Yahweh 82 2.2 Walter Benjamin’s Bloodless Violence 86 2.2.1 The Real 90 2.2.2 Žižek’s Divine Violence 92 2.3 Divine and Fallen Language 96 2.3.1 Bartleby the Scrivener 101 2.3.2 I Would Prefer Not to… 103 5 2.4 Potentiality 106 2.4.1 Agamben and Potentiality 107 2.4.2 Critchley and the Commandment 109 2.4.3 Bartleby and Chigurh 112 Chapter Three: Divine Violence and Love in Romans 13 3.1 The Roman Empire 114 3.1.1 Nero 118 3.1.2 The Crucifixion of the Jewish Messiah 121 3.2 Romans 13 125 3.2.1 Romans 13.1-7: Paul and the Wrath of God 126 3.2.2 Paul’s Ambiguous Rhetoric 129 3.2.3 Romans 13.8-10: A Divine Economy based on Love 133 3.2.4 Romans 13.11-14: The Now-Time 136 3.3 Divine Violence and Love 140 3.3.1 Foolish Power 141 3.3.2 Love as Authentic Terror 147 Chapter Four: The Slave of Christ 4.1 Re-imagining Paul 152 4.2 Alain Badiou and Saint Paula 153 4.2.1 The Truth-Event 157 4.2.2 Badiou's Paul 161 4.2.3 Paul’s Universal address 164 4.3 Paul and Identity 169 4.3.1 No Male or Female? 172 4.3.2 Eschatological Re-ordering 174 4.4 Slave of Christ: Social Order and Proper Possibility 177 4.4.1 Slavery in the Roman Empire 180 4.4.2 Christ as Slave and Lord 184 Chapter Five: Creation as Original Sin 5.1 Paul and Žižek: Common Battles 190 6 5.1.1 Zizek, Paul, and a theory of Original Sin 193 5.2 The Divided Subject of Romans 7 194 5.2.1 The Struggle against Original Sin 197 5.2.2 Eve’s Voice in Romans 7 202 5.2.3 Objet Petit a 205 5.3 Diagnosing Contemporary Violence 209 5.3.1 The Violence of Capitalism 211 5.3.2 The Infinite Demand 213 5.3.3 Militant Weakness 218 5.4 The Blood turns Brown 221 5.4.1 The Commons 224 5.4.2 The Domain of Pure Violence is the Domain of Love 226 Conclusion Chigurh, the Shopkeeper, and Original Sin 229 The Road 230 The Example of Bonhoeffer 234 Žižek and the Christian Legacy 237 Bibliography 240 7 Acknowledgements I owe a great debt of gratitude to Professor David Jasper and Dr Ward Blanton. David’s advice, guidance, and patience and have been invaluable to this work; without his influence it would not have been possible. Ward set the tone for the content of this thesis, not only at its outset but in his fresh approach to the apostle Paul which he brought to Glasgow in 2006. His reading lists provided tremendous inspiration, and were the catalyst for my academic studies that have followed. And to my family who have been a constant source of support. Thank you. 8 Introduction Violence and Truth There is an inherent violence at play in the construction of narratives which form our perspectives on reality. This insight is central to the legacy that arises from the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. His work On the Genealogy of Morals exemplifies this through relating the creation of the categories “good,” “bad,” and “evil” to forces that manipulate the way in which the world is experienced and understood. Within such manipulations of reality, as he relates to the apostle Paul in The Antichrist, the potential exists to do 'violence to the truth' (1888, 158).