God and the Meaning of Matter: Theological Engagements with the New Materialisms
Lewthwaite, Sonya Christine

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Lewthwaite, S. C. (2017). God and the Meaning of Matter: Theological Engagements with the New Materialisms (Thesis, Master of Theology). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/7126
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http://hdl.handle.net/10523/7126
Abstract:
Post-structuralism and feminism have been uneasy allies in feminism’s third wave. Critics of feminism’s cultural turn are calling for a critical theory and emancipatory politics that takes materiality as its starting point, without losing the central insights gained in radicalattention to the operation of power through language. This thesis explores the promise of the “new materialist” turn for addressing the crisis of post-structural emancipatorypolitics, and seeks a theological engagement with the ontological propositions of some central figures implicated in this theoretical shift, including Diana Coole and Karen Barad. Taking up Jane Bennett’s argument that Christianity is inherently dualistic and that divine transcendence supports a life/matter binary, this thesis uses Rowan Williams’s articulation of the doctrine of creation to respond to the implication that the Christian understanding of divine transcendence is incompatible with non-dichotomous accounts of culture and nature or meaning and matter. The doctrines of creation ex nihilo and divine transcendence (which assert a fundamental dichotomy, rather than a dualism, between God and creation) prompt us to think of creation as a material, finite, and vital whole. Williams’s theology of language moreover suggests that reflection on the non-dichotomy of matter and meaning may be one way into a reflection on the existence of a transcendent God.
Date:
2017
Advisor:
Rae, Murray Alistair
Degree Name:
Master of Theology
Degree Discipline:
Department of Theology and Religion
Publisher:
University of Otago
Keywords:
Rowan Williams; New Materialisms; Post-structuralism; non-dichotomous thought; doctrine of divine transcendence
Research Type:
Thesis
Languages:
English
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- Thesis - Masters [3375]
- Theology* [160]