The Inertia of All Flesh

Abstract

This article builds on Eric Santner’s reflections on The Weight of All Flesh and in particular his interpretation of the king’s two bodies (Royal Remains). Within the context of Protestant theology, the theopolitical consequences of the democratization of the political body described by Santner are of particular interest. In this respect, I argue for two theses: first, this process of democratization finds its parallel in the Protestant critique of the representational function of the church – and perhaps even a crucial precondition. Second, in terms of a theological critique of ideology, this observation allows us insights into some accompanying symptoms of this process. From a theological perspective the weight of all flesh can then be precisely analyzed as the inertia of the flesh – and of all flesh at that.

Keywords:

• acedia
• Luther
• flesh
• weight

disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Of course, this is only a general trend. For some time, researchers have pointed out that the high and late medieval hamartiologies continue to reflect on the earlier meaning of acedia. See, for instance, Wenzel 58.

2 One could argue that Kant avoids this tendency in his later work on radical evil.

3 For a detailed interpretation of this motif in the work of Luther, see Stoellger 248–53.

4 I am referring to a concept of Friedrich Schleiermacher [lebendige Empfänglichkeit]. See Jorgenson 110: “[Schleiermacher] fears some understanding of passivity which admits the possibility of a human conceived as a ‘lifeless object’ who is unable to feel the need of redemption […]”

5 Badiou’s interpretation of Christianity is often identified with his book on Paul. Less well known is an earlier treaty on theology in Being and Event, in which Badiou applies his event theory to Christianity, engaging with Pascal. Interestingly, in this earlier version, it is explicitly the death of God that is the event of Christianity. See Badiou, Being and Event 212–22.