Tillich and the Abyss : Foundations, Feminism, and Theology of Praxis

This book examines Paul Tillich ́s theological concept of the abyss by locating it within the context of current postmodern antifoundalist discussions and debates surrounding feminism, gender, and language. Sigridur Gudmarsdottir develops these tropes into a constructive theology, arguing that Tillich’s idea of the abyss can serve as a necessary means of deconstructing the binaries between the theoretical and the practical in producing nihilistic relativism and the safe foundations of knowledge (divine as well as human). How does one search for a map and method through an abyss? In his writings, Tillich expressed the ambiguity and groundlessness of being, the depth structure of the human condition, and the reality of God as an abyss. The more we gaze into this abyss, the more we encounter the faults in our various foundations. This book outlines how Tillich’s concept of the abyss creates greater opportunities for complexity and liminality and opens up a space where life and death, destruction and construction, fecundity and horror, womb and tomb, can coincide. Dedication 6 Acknowledgments 8 Contents 10 Chapter 1: Natal and Nihilistic Theological Foundations 11 Gazing into the Abyss 12 Abysmal Apathy: Himmelfarb, Milbank, and Ward 17 Depth, Death, Desire: Jantzen and Keller 22 Fourfold Abyss: Kataphatic, Affective, Speculative, and Apophatic 31 Wondrous Depths 36 Notes 38 Chapter 2: Kataphatic Identity and Religious Symbolism 43 The Divine Source of All Things 47 Tillichian Symbolics and Feminist Mariologies 49 Kristeva and the Semiotic Maternal 54 Birth and Breakthrough in Meister Eckhart 59 Tillich’s Maternal Breakthroughs 63 The Ugly, The Gloomy, and the Beautiful 71 Notes 75 Chapter 3: Affective Bodies and Agape Desire 81 Tillichian Perversions and the Problem of Biography 85 The Demonic, the Divine, and the Irigarayan Fort-Da 88 The Repression and Return of the Maternal 98 Eros and Agape 101 Gaping Agape 109 Notes 110 Chapter 4: Khoric Speculations and Maps of Difference 117 Tillichian Wisdom and Derridian Khora 121 Trajectories of the Abyss: Boehme and Schelling 127 Resisting the Gaze 132 Irigaray Speculates on the Mystics 138 Mapping the Divine: Kristeva and Corrington 142 Notes 146 Chapter 5: Apophatic Silence and Displacements 151 The Birth Pangs of Apophasis 158 Marian Symbols and Apophatic Markers 161 Dirty Lips 165 Negation and Non-Existing Women 169 Living Without a Why 173 Notes 176 Bibliography 182 Index 193 "This book examines Paul Tillich ́s theological concept of the abyss by locating it within the context of current postmodern antifoundalist discussions and debates surrounding feminism, gender, and language. Sigridur Gudmarsdottir develops these tropes into a constructive theology, arguing that Tillich’s idea of the abyss can serve as a necessary means of deconstructing the binaries between the theoretical and the practical in producing nihilistic relativism and the safe foundations of knowledge (divine as well as human). How does one search for a map and method through an abyss? In his writings, Tillich expressed the ambiguity and groundlessness of being, the depth structure of the human condition, and the reality of God as an abyss. The more we gaze into this abyss, the more we encounter the faults in our various foundations. This book outlines how Tillich’s concept of the abyss creates greater opportunities for complexity and liminality and opens up a space where life and death, destruction and construction, fecundity and horror, womb and tomb, can coincide"-- Provided by publisher This book examines Paul Tillichs theological concept of the abyss by locating it within the context of current postmodern antifoundalist discussions and debates surrounding feminism, gender, and language. Sigridur Gudmarsdottir develops these tropes into a constructive theology, arguing that Tillich s idea of the abyss can serve as a necessary means of deconstructing the binaries between the theoretical and the practical in producing nihilistic relativism and the safe foundations of knowledge (divine as well as human). How does one search for a map and method through an abyss? In his writings, Tillich expressed the ambiguity and groundlessness of being, the depth structure of the human condition, and the reality of God as an abyss. The more we gaze into this abyss, the more we encounter the faults in our various foundations. This book outlines how Tillich s concept of the abyss creates greater opportunities for complexity and liminality and opens up a space where life and death, destruction and construction, fecundity and horror, womb and tomb, can coincide." Front Matter....Pages i-ix Natal and Nihilistic Theological Foundations....Pages 1-32 Kataphatic Identity and Religious Symbolism....Pages 33-70 Affective Bodies and Agape Desire....Pages 71-106 Khoric Speculations and Maps of Difference....Pages 107-140 Apophatic Silence and Displacements....Pages 141-171 Back Matter....Pages 173-193