I would describe myself as a post-christian, no longer in the
dogmatic frame but still internal to much of the tradition (
culturally broader I would hope than either radical atheism or
Alabama fundamentalism). An interesting conversation with Thomas A
Clark a few weeks ago on the richness of some christian contemplative
writing, the West too has its own pauses and silences. Many younger
artists and composers would acknowledge some sort of "religious" (in
the small house of the "r") qualification. Ethics as religious? - a
weakness in the more Puritan-derived tradition of political ethics
that seems a clear strand amid that Cambridge straw is the absence of
or opposition to a spirituality. Would love Keston to offer some more
ideas on Her Weasels Wild Returning. I have always sensed scepticism
in JHP is more a version of purgation, a testing of one's own, rather
than a project of radical externalisation.
In my own work I have always toyed with some notion of a
"speculative-contemplative" paradigm, where the speculative energy
has some sort of horizon of dedication or offering or making over.
This might also key in with Derrida's notion of hospitality, except i
am also interested in the thickening over or obstacle-like nature of
sacral reserves which contaminate the idea of secular generosity if
that relies on an unproblematic openness.
Peter
Peter Larkin
Philosophy & Literature Librarian
University of Warwick Library
Coventry CV4 7AL UK
Tel: 01203 528151 Fax: 01203 524211
Email: [log in to unmask]
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