The significance of the body in ethical discourse: Julia Kristeva's contribution to moral theology.
The goal of the dissertation is to demonstrate Julia Kristeva's important contribution to the significance of the body for moral theology. The thesis begins by identifying a polarization between, on the one hand, the temptation to completely transcend the body and, on the other, the temptation to excessively identify the human person with his or her body when addressing imbalances which limit and oppress women and men. Within a survey of literature in Christian ethics, I identify three levels of progressively more nuanced responses. The levels are those who privilege the body excessively bracketing out the transcendent dimension, those who also privilege the body but leave room for transcendence and those who recognize the need to move beyond an either/or corrective. I then consider the work of feminist theologian and ethicist, Rosemary Ruether. Ruether's analysis reveals the deep and pervasive limits which confront us when we attempt to move beyond the polarity between an essentialism (transcending the body) and a determinism (privileging the body). Yet, Ruether leaves work undone. Hence, I turn to Kristeva to take the analysis of the body-psyche dynamic to a level that both explains the polarity and probes a creative dynamic in the human person that allows for an undermining of the polarity. Chapters two, three and four give an account of the work of Julia Kristeva. Chapter two presents an overview of Kristeva's work. Amid Kristeva's variety of sources there emerges a central concern underlying all of her work; her concern for "otherness"---her own and the world's. Thus, Kristeva's concern for ethics emerges. Chapter three presents the theoretical part of Kristeva's foundational book Revolution in Poetic Language. In chapter four I clarify Kristeva's contribution to the problem set out in chapter one. Here I highlight the ramifications of her theory. I do this by exploring Kristeva's phenomenological study of the condition of abjection in her book Powers of Horror : An Essay on Abjection. In the final chapter, I explore the theological implications of Kristeva's thought through a comparative analysis of her work with the work, of Ruether. I elaborate here on Kristeva's contribution to the ongoing discussion which I outline in chapter one. I argue that Kristeva's theory of the split subject pushes the limits of Ruether's contribution. Thus, I argue that Kristeva moves beyond Ruether in her investigation of the determining role of the body in language, and subsequently, in ethical discourse. Yet, I also argue that Ruether remains important from a theological perspective, precisely because she is willing to name the transcendent dimension that Kristeva refuses to acknowledge. There is a transcendent dimension that consistently comes through in everything Kristeva. writes. Her refusal to name the transcendent realm impoverishes what, in my view, is the most important aspect of her entire thought. In a rare and astonishing manner, Kristeva brings to our awareness the creative productivity that underlies the human psyche. Yet, because of her fear of falling prey to the. repressive consequences of totalitarianism, Kristeva avoids naming that dynamism of the human person. I conclude the fifth chapter by exploring this phenomenon in Kristeva's work and demonstrating, what I consider is Ruether's contribution to Kristeva. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 60-08, Section: A, page: 2978.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations