The Ethics and Characterisation of God, and the Rejection of Saul

2021 ◽  
pp. 119-130
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Martha Nussbaum ◽  
Divine Presence ◽  
Ethical Evaluation ◽  
Divine Violence ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Physical Dimensions ◽  
Prior Action

In dialogue with the thought of Martha Nussbaum, divine emotions point to God’s cherished projects and are relevant for the ethical evaluation of divine violence. There is complexity in analysing ancient concepts broadly labelled ‘emotions’ that hold emotive, cognitive, and physical dimensions, including regret and favour. Divine regret suggests that the divine violence against Saul is not a repayment of Saul’s guilt but a repayment of God’s own prior action in making Saul king. Divine regret is an emotion/cognition that is not based on an attempt to determine good and evil but on divine attachments and values, the need to remove Saul, and God’s favour for his neighbour. God’s characterisation is also described through the phrase ‘according to [God’s] own heart,’ and divine presence indicated the divine spirits upon Saul and David.

scholarly journals Religion and modernity in a secular city: A public theology of différance

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann-Albrecht Meylahn
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
Modern State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religion And Modernity ◽  
Divine Violence ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Legitimate Violence ◽  
Good And Evil

Seeking the good often authorises and legitimises certain forms of violence: violence that defines the state (Benjamin’s law-founding violence) by the exclusion of others and the violence that coerces or binds (religare) the public into a common understanding of the good at the exclusion of other interpretations of that good (Benjamin’s law-maintaining violence). The secular modern state has never been without religion functioning as religare. The modern state, often seen as a peacemaker, is founded on these two forms of ‘legitimate’ violence against what is other or different, just as the peace, prosperity and good of the state is sought through the elimination of the different and a unification of the state under the banner of a ‘common’ good. This ‘legitimate’ violence will always produce the counter-violence of difference (i.e. excluded others) seeking a legitimate place within the common space of the republic (Benjamin’s divine violence). With the rise of religious fundamentalism, institutionalised religion has been allowed to return to the public debate. Is the call for this return one that further sanctions legitimate violence by eating and sharing the fruit of knowledge of good and evil? Is the call the church is hearing one that seeks to clarify and clearly define the good that will bind us (religare) into a stronger and more prosperous and peaceful city – onward Christian soldiers marching as to war? Or is there another calling, one that requires us to be Disciples of Christ – with the Cross of Jesus going on before – entering the space of violence beyond the knowledge of good and evil as peacemakers? In this article, I sought to understand this ‘peacemaking’ space by bringing into dialogue Žižek’s interpretation of Christianity with Derrida’s interpretation of hospitality.

The LORD Kills and Brings to Life

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Dark Side ◽  
Ethical Evaluation ◽  
Divine Violence ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Book Of Samuel ◽  
The Relationship

Through the example of David’s census in 2 Sam 24, key issues related to divine violence in the book of Samuel are introduced: the occurrence of inexplicable divine violence; the interplay of divine and human sovereignty; God’s emotion; and the relationship between forgiveness and punishment. The parameters for the use of the term ‘divine violence’ in this study are defined, taking into account the distinction between subjective and objective violence and Walter Benjamin’s technical use of the term. The methodology of this study is outlined. Debate regarding a proposed ‘dark side’ of God will be addressed through contemporary thinkers who challenge the dominance of retributive frameworks in ethical evaluation. An account of the characterisation of God will be given that acknowledges a diversity of traditions in the text and focuses minimally on narrative gaps. Political contexts for the divine violence will be proposed, both monarchic and exilic.

Divine Violence and Divine Presence: Reading the Story of Uzzah and the Ark in 2 Samuel 6 with Slavoj Žižek

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Divine Presence ◽  
Slavoj Zizek ◽  
Slavoj Žižek ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Divine Violence ◽  
2 Samuel

Abstract This article interprets the story of the outbreak of God against Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6 as an act of “divine violence,” a concept described by Slavoj Žižek in his book Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. In previous interpretations of 2 Samuel 6, the violence against Uzzah has been understood either as a punishment for a transgression, or as a capricious act of God’s power. Slavoj Žižek describes “divine violence” as violence, which is not a means to an end, and which irrupts from a position of vulnerability and impotence. By looking at the details of the Masoretic Text of 2 Samuel 6, it will be argued that the violence of God in this story should also be interpreted as divine violence: it lacks meaning as a punishment for transgression, and it stems from the vulnerability of God’s presence in the ark rather than from God’s transcendent power.

The Characterisation of God in the Stories of the Ark

2021 ◽  
pp. 167-185
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Divine Presence ◽  
Divine Violence

The Divine Violence of the ark in 1 Sam 6:19 and 2 Sam 6:7 springs from the misalignment of the holy transcendent God being present in the ark. The conception of divine presence does not conform to JE, Priestly, Zion-Sabaoth, or Deuteronomistic theology precisely, but it contains elements found in all of these traditions, confirming that the transcendent God is understood as actually present in the ark in 1 Sam 6:19 and 2 Sam 6:7. God is characterised as holy in these narratives, but God also shows no privilege for God’s own people, treating them akin to the Philistines. God is angry in 2 Sam 6:7, and the concept of anger as an unleashed volatile rage is explored. The thought of Walter Benjamin is used to suggest that the Divine Violence of the ark is beyond ethics: it cannot be justified, but it also does not justify other acts of violence.

Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Martha Nussbaum ◽  
Divine Retribution ◽  
Divine Violence ◽  
Book Of Samuel ◽  
Babylonian Exile

Much of the drama, theological paradox, and interpretive interest in the book of Samuel derives from instances of God’s violence in the story. The beginnings of Israel’s monarchy are interwoven with God’s violent rejection of the houses of Eli and of Saul, deaths connected to the Ark of the Covenant, and the outworking of divine retribution after David’s violent appropriation of Bathsheba as his wife. Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel explores these narratives of divine violence from ethical, literary, and political perspectives, in dialogue with the thought of Immanuel Kant, Martha Nussbaum, and Walter Benjamin. The book addresses such questions as: Is the God of Samuel a capricious God with a troubling dark side? Is punishment for sin the only justifiable violence in these narratives? Why does God continue to punish those already declared forgiven? What is the role of God’s emotions in acts of divine violence? In what political contexts might narratives of divine violence against God’s own kings and God’s own people have arisen? The result is a fresh commentary on the dynamics of transgression, punishment, and their upheavals in the book of Samuel. The book offers a sensitive portrayal of God’s literary characterisation, with a focus on divine emotion and its effects. By identifying possible political contexts in which the narratives arose, God’s violence is further illumined through its relation to human violence, northern and southern monarchic ideology, and Judah’s experience of the Babylonian exile.

The Soul of Nietzsche'sBeyond Good and Evil

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maudemarie Clark ◽  
David Dudrick
Keyword(s):  
Good And Evil

A Way Beyond Good and Evil?A Way Beyond Good and Evil?

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6161 (3333) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Good And Evil

A Polanyian Rescue of The Abolition of Man

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-68
Author(s):  
Jon Fennell
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Objective Value ◽  
Essential Contribution ◽  
Good And Evil

The Abolition of Man, though short in length and casual in tone, is among the most important books of the twentieth century. The reason it possesses such significance is that it reveals through penetrating analysis the contemporary sceptical assault on the very possibility of rational morality and, indeed, on the very meaning of human life. In meeting and overcoming this assault, Lewis embraces the concept of objective value. But this concept is itself under attack in modernity, most notably in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. There is, however, an effective response to this withering onslaught. It is found in Michael Polanyi's ‘fiduciary’ philosophy. This study shows how Polanyi's account of justification inoculates Lewis' objective value against Nietzsche's virulent attack, thereby preserving the defence of meaning and morality that constitutes the essential contribution of The Abolition of Man.

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