The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism
Title | The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism PDF eBook |
Author | Geoffrey Galt Harpham |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | 344 |
Release | 1987 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780226316918 |
In this bold interdisciplinary work, Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues that asceticism has played a major role in shaping Western ideas of the body, writing, ethics, and aesthetics. He suggests that we consider the ascetic as "the 'cultural' element in culture," and presents a close analysis of works by Athanasius, Augustine, Matthias, Grünewald, Nietzsche, Foucault, and other thinkers as proof of the extent of asceticism's resources. Harpham demonstrates the usefulness of his findings by deriving from asceticism a "discourse of resistance," a code of interpretation ultimately more generous and humane than those currently available to us.
The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism
Title | The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism PDF eBook |
Author | Geoffrey Galt Harpham |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | 344 |
Release | 2011-01-15 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 0226316904 |
In this bold interdisciplinary work, Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues that asceticism has played a major role in shaping Western ideas of the body, writing, ethics, and aesthetics. He suggests that we consider the ascetic as "the 'cultural' element in culture," and presents a close analysis of works by Athanasius, Augustine, Matthias, Grünewald, Nietzsche, Foucault, and other thinkers as proof of the extent of asceticism's resources. Harpham demonstrates the usefulness of his findings by deriving from asceticism a "discourse of resistance," a code of interpretation ultimately more generous and humane than those currently available to us.
Culture, Politics and Governing
Title | Culture, Politics and Governing PDF eBook |
Author | P. Nickel |
Publisher | Springer |
Total Pages | 246 |
Release | 2015-02-10 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1137401974 |
Culture, Politics, and Governing: The Contemporary Ascetics of Knowledge Production is a critical, interdisciplinary approach to how the practices that govern the production of knowledge and culture have material consequences for how we experience everyday life.
Asceticism and Its Critics
Title | Asceticism and Its Critics PDF eBook |
Author | Oliver Freiberger |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | 286 |
Release | 2006-10-19 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780199719013 |
Scholars of religion have always been fascinated by asceticism. Some have even regarded this radical way of life-- the withdrawal from the world, combined with practices that seriously affect basic bodily needs, up to extreme forms of self-mortification --as the ultimate form of a true religious quest. This view is rooted in hagiographic descriptions of prominent ascetics and in other literary accounts that praise the ascetic life-style. Scholars have often overlooked, however, that in the history of religions ascetic beliefs and practices have also been strongly criticized, by followers of the same religious tradition as well as by outsiders. The respective sources provide sufficient evidence of such critical strands but surprisingly as yet no attempt has been made to analyze this criticism of asceticism systematically. This book is a first attempt of filling this gap. Ten studies present cases from both Asian and European traditions: classical and medieval Hinduism, early and contemporary Buddhism in South and East Asia, European antiquity, early and medieval Christianity, and 19th/20th century Aryan religion. Focusing on the critics of asceticism, their motives, their arguments, and the targets of their critique, these studies provide a broad range of issues for comparison. They suggest that the critique of asceticism is based on a worldview differing from and competing with the ascetic worldview, often in one and the same historical context. The book demonstrates that examining the critics of asceticism helps understand better the complexity of religious traditions and their cultural contexts. The comparative analysis, moreover, shows that the criticism of asceticism reflects a religious worldview as significant and widespread in the history of religions as asceticism itself is.
Theology as Ascetic Act
Title | Theology as Ascetic Act PDF eBook |
Author | Nathan G. Jennings |
Publisher | Peter Lang |
Total Pages | 248 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | Asceticism |
ISBN | 9781433109904 |
Nathan G. Jennings's captivating study explores the ascetical logic of the various practices that Christians call theology. By establishing ascetic practice as coherent within the logic of Christian thought, Jennings argues that Christian theology itself, as an embodied Christian practice, is a type of and participant in Christian asceticism. Jennings establishes that the implications of such an understanding of Christian theology can be brought to bear on modern Christian scholarship in profound and transformative ways. With engagements and references that span a vast terrain from Patristic authors to modern systematic theologians, Theology as Ascetic Act: Disciplining Christian Discourse is a significant contribution to both modern Christian thought and the study of asceticism.
Corporeality, Medical Technologies and Contemporary Culture
Title | Corporeality, Medical Technologies and Contemporary Culture PDF eBook |
Author | Francisco Ortega |
Publisher | CRC Press |
Total Pages | 213 |
Release | 2013-12-17 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1135143196 |
Corporeality, Medical Technologies and Contemporary Culture engages the confusions and contradictions in current attitudes to, and practices of, the body.
Getting It Right
Title | Getting It Right PDF eBook |
Author | Geoffrey Galt Harpham |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | 254 |
Release | 1992-07-15 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780226316932 |
In a critical scene deeply troubled by questions of justice and responsibility, and beset by political and moral scandals, no issue in recent years has been more urgent or more unsettled than the question of ethics. Geoffrey Galt Harpham, whose previous book, The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism, was one of the first to announce the critical renewal of ethics, attempts in this new book to explain why ethical questions resist settlement. He urges a new account of ethics not as a stable set of principles, values, or prescriptions, but as a variable factor of "imperativity" immanent in language, analysis, narrative, and creation.