5. Gilles Deleuze and Early Christian Texts
Critical Theory and Early Christianity - Walter Benjamin, Gilles Deleuze, Alain Badiou, and Judith Butler - Matthew G. Whitlock
Matthew G. Whitlock [+ ]
Seattle University
Matthew G. Whitlock (PhD, The Catholic University of America, 2008) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Seattle University. His research focuses on Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Paul, New Testament Poetry, Critical Theory, and Science Fiction. His publications have focused on topics ranging from New Testament poetry in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly to the Body Without Organs and Christianity in Deleuze and Guattari Studies. He is currently working on a book of dialectical images from the science fiction of Philip K. Dick and from the letters of the Apostle Paul.
Description
This chapter discusses the life and work of Gilles Deleuze in the context of critical theory and early Christianity. The chapter begins by delineating Deleuze’s rhizomatic approach to history and texts, an approach avoiding hierarchical, rigid, tree-like structures, but one focusing on moving intersections and networks in all directions. Next, the chapter outlines Deleuze’s life, providing context for his concepts. Finally, the chapter summarizes the three essays in this section by Bradley McLean, Matthew Whitlock and Philip Tite, and Sharon Jacob, and suggests further research on minor and major languages in early Christian texts in light of Deleuze’s concepts of minor and major literature.