Longing and Letting Go explores and compares the energies of desire
and non-attachment in the writings of Hadewijch, a
thirteenth-century Christian Beguine, and Mirabai, a
sixteenth-century Hindu bhakta. Through an examination of the
relational power of their respective mystical poetics of longing,
the book invites interreligious meditation in the middle spaces of
longing as a resource for an ethic of social justice: passionate
non-attachment thus surfaces as an interreligious value and
practice in the service of a less oppressive world. Mirabai and
Hadewijch are both read through the primary comparative framework
of viraha-bhakti, a mystical eroticism from Mirabai's Vaisnava
Hindu tradition that fosters communal experiences of longing.
Mirabai's songs of viraha-bhakti are conversely read through the
lens of Hadewijch's concept of "noble unfaith," which will be
construed as a particular version of passionate non-attachment.
Reading back and forth across the traditions, the comparative
currents move into the thematics of apophatic theological
anthropology, comparative feminist ethics, and religiously plural
identities. Judith Butler provides a philosophically complementary
schema through which to consider how the mystics' desire, manifest
in the grief of separation and the erotic bliss of near union,
operates as a force of "dispossession" that creates the very
conditions for non-attachment. Hadewijch's and Mirabai's practices
of longing, read in terms of Butler's concept of dispossession,
offer clues for a lived ethic that encourages desire for the
flourishing of the world, without that passion consuming the world,
the other, or the self. Longing-in its vulnerable, relational,
apophatic, dispossessive aspects-informs a lived ethic of
passionate non-attachment, which holds space for the desires of
others in an interrelated, fragile world. When configured as
performative relationality and applied to the discipline of
comparative theology, practices of longing decenter the self and
allow for the emergence of dynamic, even plural, religious
identities.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
