(Ir)religiosity

It would be easy for me to rattle off a list of people who have influenced my hermeneutics from the worlds of theology and religious studies.  So I thought I would make it a bit more interesting and list several thinkers from outside the religious world (more or less) who influence my interpretation of not only the bible but literature in general.  Of course any “list” is always incomplete and unfinished.  There are many people who have indirectly influence my interpretive approach; I’m limiting this list to those that are more direct and most recent in time.  So here is my “hand” of 7 (in no particular order).

• Jacques Derrida - for deconstruction and différance
• Paul Ricoeur - for symbolism/myth and a hermeneutics of suspicion
• Judith Butler - for gender/sexuality identity and social construction
• Stanley Fish - for the importance of  interpretive communities and the downfall of foundationalism
• Emmanuel Levinas – for “ethics as philosophy” and the presence of the Other
• Michel Foucault – for the importance of history and power relations
• Cornel West - for “prophetic pragmatism” and the Socratic imperative

That’s my blend at the moment.

Who are a few of your non-religious and non-theological influences?

Relations of power are not in themselves forms of repression. But what happens is that, in society, in most societies, organizations are created to freeze the relations of power, hold those relations in a state of asymmetry, so that a certain number of persons get an advantage, socially, economically, politically, institutionally, etc. And this totally freezes the situation. That’s what one calls power in the strict sense of the term: it’s a specific type of power relation that has been institutionalized, frozen, immobilized, to the profit of some and to the detriment of others. (ht)

– Michel Foucault

Very true.  And, I would add, very compatible with the Christian narrative, at least in my interpretation.  I do wonder about his initial claim relations and networks of power are not in themselves forms of repression.  If it is true, then I’m failing to come up with a historical example in which power did not lead to repression and oppression.  That is not to say there are not other creative possibilities, just that we haven’t had the audacity to experiment yet.  So, I think I can say with confidence that until now power, in it’s normative functions and applications, has usually led to destructive dominance.  Hopefully, we can change that.  Hopefully.

Join in for some fun and commentary as we finally put an end to this seemingly endless campaign.

Check back here for live updates beginning at 7PM EST and continuing through . . . well I’m not exactly sure how long

In celebration of it’s 10th birthday Google is allowing people to search their 2001 database.  It’s pretty cool.  I did a search for Barack Obama and John McCain.  Here are some screenshots of the first couple of results.

You can see the results here and here and the archived sites here and here.

Interesting stuff.

Last Sunday John McCain emphatically denied that his campaign manager had anything to do with Freddie Mac, one of the latest companies to receive corporate welfare. Looks like he lied.  The truth is the mortgage giant paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month — roughly $500,000 in all — to a firm owned by McCain’s campaign manager.  How the hell do you explain that John? Kinda makes all the anti-special interests and ‘no more Washington business as usual’ talk ring a little hollow.

To be fair, Barack Obama is not immune either.  He has ties to the loan sharks as well.  In fact, he ranks second among members of Congress in donations from the firms’ employees and political action committees.  Both candidates have corporate connections that should be deeply disturbing to anyone who has been paying any attention to the economy as of late.

So — don’t believe everything they tell you.  Follow the money trail.  Turn off the news and read.  Be informed. This is as good a place as any to get started.

EDIT 4:51 PM EST: Here’s an even more interesting link to a visualization of the keywords dropped by both parties throughout the duration of the conventions. [Ht. Joe Kennedy]

I twittered this last night, but I think it’s worth posting.  Below are tag clouds of the words used most often my Barack Obama and John McCain in their acceptance speeches.  Very interesting.

Obama:

McCain:

When asked yesterday by reporters what it was like to be interviewed by Russert, McCain said with a smile, “I once told him I haven’t had so much fun since my last interrogation at prison camp.” [Ht. Daily Kos]  Wow.  Seriously John?