Imaginal renaissance : desire, corporeality, & rebirth in the work of Jacob Böhme
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Böhme is an important figure who connects the histories of early modern religious dissidence to Continental philosophy and later countercultural movements, yet he remains understudied. Challenging prevalent views that Böhme's writings are exercises in irrationality or "primitive" religious speculation, I argue that his work provides the theory for a practice aimed at (a) relocating religious authority in the body and (b) fostering an experience of the world that rejects contemporaneous theological and scientific cosmologies in favor of an ontology of human/world co-constitution. I demonstrate that many of Böhme's concepts do not "make sense" when approached as theology, philosophy, or theory, because his texts are indexed to the body: they are meant to catalyze existential transformation rather than convey purely conceptual content. My dissertation attempts to rectify the tendency to "disembody" Böhme, by approaching him first and foremost as a praxis-oriented thinker. I analyze Böhme's work, not as an example of introspective mysticism or speculative philosophy, but as the framework for a praxis meant to be performed in real time: an "existential paradigm" that is simultaneously (a) a phenomenology of desire; (b) a theory, method, and practice of self and world creation; and (c) a creative action aimed at disrupting the social imaginary and influencing the larger body politic.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Gentzke, Joshua Levi Ian |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Religious Studies. |
| Primary advisor | Sheehan, Thomas |
| Thesis advisor | Sheehan, Thomas |
| Thesis advisor | Bashir, Shahzad, 1968- |
| Thesis advisor | Pentcheva, Bissera V |
| Advisor | Bashir, Shahzad, 1968- |
| Advisor | Pentcheva, Bissera V |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Joshua Levi Ian Gentzke. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Religious Studies. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Joshua Levi Ian Gentzke
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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