ONTOLOGIES OF VIOLENCE: JACQUES DERRIDA, MENNONITE PACIFIST EPISTEMOLOGY, AND GRACE M. JANTZEN’S DEATH AND THE DISPLACEMENT OF BEAUTY Ontologies of Violence: Jacques Derrida, Mennonite Pacifist Epistemology, and Grace M. Jantzen’s Death and the Displacement of Beauty By Maxwell Stephen Kennel, B.A., M.T.S. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright Maxwell Stephen Kennel, 2021. McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2021) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (Religious Studies). TITLE: “Ontologies of Violence: Jacques Derrida, Mennonite Pacifist Epistemology, and Grace M. Jantzen’s Death and the Displacement of Beauty.” AUTHOR: Maxwell Stephen Kennel, B.A. (University of Waterloo), M.T.S. (University of Waterloo and Conrad Grebel University College). NUMBER OF PAGES: 300 pp. COMMITTEE: Dr. P. Travis Kroeker (supervisor), Dr. Dana Hollander, Dr. Morny Joy (University of Calgary), and Dr. Dawne McCance (external examiner, University of Manitoba). ii Lay Abstract This dissertation examines the early work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida (Chapter 1), debates between Mennonite philosophical theologians and John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy (Chapter 2), and the Death and the Displacement of Beauty trilogy by feminist philosopher of religion Grace M. Jantzen (Chapter 3). For Derrida, Jantzen, and certain Mennonite philosophical theologians the term “violence” is used to name ways of thinking, knowing, and speaking, rather than being restricted to the sphere of physical violations. This dissertation shows how these three sources each consider violence to be something that can inhere in ways of thinking about the world and our relation to it. iii Abstract This dissertation critically examines the ontological and epistemological significance of the concept of violence in French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s essay “Violence and Metaphysics” (Chapter 1), dialogues between Mennonite philosophical theologians who represent the Radical Reformation and John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy (Chapter 2), and the Death and the Displacement of Beauty trilogy by feminist philosopher of religion Grace Jantzen (Chapter 3). Although Derrida, Jantzen, and certain Mennonite philosophical theologians approach the problem of violence with very different concerns and frames of reference, each understand violence to have a distinctly ontological and epistemological character, while also suggesting that ontology and epistemology themselves are profoundly vulnerable to charges of violence. In Derrida’s essay “Violence and Metaphysics” language itself is imbricated in violence, and in their responses to John Milbank, Mennonite philosophical theologians Peter C. Blum and Chris K. Huebner situate their work both with and against Derrida’s supposed “ontology of violence” as they apply Christian pacifism to epistemology and seek to articulate an “ontology of peace.” In her late work in the Death and the Displacement of Beauty project, Grace Jantzen develops an epistemology that is similar to that of Blum and Huebner, while critiquing what she understands to be Derrida’s equivocation of linguistic with physical violence, all as part of her argument that the cultural habitus of the west is founded on an obsession with death that violently displaces natality with mortality. In bringing together these three sources, this dissertation uses “violence” as a diagnostic concept to assess the priorities and values of its users. Considering violence to be defined by the violation of value-laden boundaries, this study of three ontologies of violence interprets and critiques the values that Derrida’s deconstruction, philosophical Mennonite pacifism, and Jantzen’s critique of displacement seek to further and protect against violation. iv Acknowledgments I want to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding from the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship (2018-2021) and the Ontario Graduate Fellowship (2017-2018). I would also like to express my gratitude to the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre and Conrad Grebel University College for twice awarding me the A. James Reimer Scholarship for my Mennonite work (2016, 2020). Although words fail, I want to begin by thanking my supervisor Travis Kroeker, not only for treating my dissertation with attention and care, but for reaching out to me before I began my degree and affirming this project (which I had nearly given up on). I am so grateful that Travis showed up when he did and walked me through my degree with supportive conversations, late- night emails, and challenging seminar discussions. The various comments, suggestions, and critiques provided by my committee were also of great help to me as I developed (and continue to develop) this dissertation. I am grateful to Dana Hollander for her close attention to detail, to Morny Joy for her insights into the work of Grace M. Jantzen, and to my external examiner Dawne McCance for her important questions about the framing of the dissertation. Each contributed to an enjoyable and thought-provoking defense that continues to inspire me. Throughout my degree the Religious Studies department at McMaster provided a unique home for my interdisciplinary interests, and I am grateful that I could study Augustine, Plato, Nietzsche, Jewish philosophy, methodology, Mennonites, political theology, and the philosophy of religion, all under its generous and pluralistic auspices. I am especially grateful to Dan Machiela, Mark Rowe, and Philippa Carter for the opportunities they afforded me. I am also thankful for my colleagues Zac Klassen, Gerald Ens, Jeremy Cohen, Matthew Lee, Jonas Brandt, Anna Phipps-Burton, Rachel Matheson, and Rob Jones, who each provided humor, insight, and conversation at key moments. I want to further acknowledge and thank Kyle Gingerich Hiebert and the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre for providing a forum for my work in 2017/2019. This dissertation was written in many places, and for the dear friends who made those places feel like home I can never be thankful enough. Tyler and Chalsi Campbell (Dayton), Jess del Rosso (Waterloo), Seija Grant, Liz and Michael Foo, Jorian van den Helm and Carlyn Hopkins (Toronto), Faith and Amos Shelley (Hanover), Jenn Neufeld and Rachael Lake (Guelph), and the members of the Niagara Anabaptist colloquium (especially Mike Driedger!) – each made my life so much better as I was reading, writing, and thinking. May there be many more conversations to come! Several people intervened at key moments to make the continuation of my degree possible by providing me with employment and material aid, most importantly Mary Lapp, Chuck Roth, and Joe Dumering. Without their help I would not have been able to finish my degree, and words cannot express my gratitude for their generosity. I am deeply thankful for the support that my parents Steve and Shirley, and my brother Reid, have shown me on the long road that led to the completion of this degree. Without our conversations around the dinner table about politics, religion, culture, and media, I would not have found or stayed with my love for this work. Thank you for supporting me and providing a home for us during our perpetual periods of interregnum. However, human beings can only do so much, and so I thank Atlas and Luna for their reassuring creaturely presence during long hours of writing. But most of all, these pages are dedicated to Amy, who – amidst many ordeals on a long and winding path – waited impatiently with me and shared so many therapeutic insights in our conversations about everything that these pages can only gesture toward. uxori omnia mea v TABLE OF CONTENTS Lay Abstract Abstract Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION pp. 1-23 Outline What is Violence? CHAPTER 1: Violence in Jacques Derrida’s “Violence and Metaphysics” pp. 24-101 The Early Derrida A Commentary on Violence in “Violence and Metaphysics” Reading “Violence and Metaphysics” with “Force of Law” and “Préjuges” Situating Violence in Derrida CHAPTER 2: Mennonite Pacifist Epistemology and Ontological Peace pp. 102-197 Radical Reformation Radical Orthodoxy Mennonites, Milbank, and Derrida John Milbank’s Ontological Peace The Philosophical Turn in Mennonite Pacifism Radical Reformation Responses Derridean Violence, Mennonite Peace CHAPTER 3: Grace Jantzen’s Critique of Violence in Death and the Displacement of Beauty pp. 199-261 The Problem of Metanarratives Jantzen and the Mennonites Jantzen’s Critique of Derrida Violence in Death and the Displacement of Beauty Violence and Displacement Violence, History, and Master Narratives History and Displacement CONCLUSION: Deconstruction, Pacifism, Displacement pp. 262-278 Bibliography pp. 279-294 vi Ph.D. Thesis – Maxwell Kennel – McMaster University – Department of Religious Studies. INTRODUCTION Outline This dissertation critically examines the ontological and epistemological significance of the concept of violence in French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s essay “Violence and Metaphysics,” in dialogues between Anglican theologian John Milbank and Mennonite philosophical theologians Chris K. Huebner and Peter C. Blum, and in the Death and the Displacement of Beauty trilogy by feminist philosopher of religion Grace M. Jantzen. Although Derrida, the Mennonites, and Jantzen use the term “violence” within different academic disciplines and with different priorities, each understands violence to refer to something that has a distinctly