IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/halshs-04503434.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Embedding or the Quest for “God” Beyond Language
[L’enchâssement ou la quête de « Dieu » au-delà du langage]

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Walter

    (LAP - Laboratoire d’anthropologie politique – Approches interdisciplinaires et critiques des mondes contemporains, UMR 8177 - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

In public discussions or in private conversations, one frequently hears the idea expressed that "God is beyond dogmas and religion." Those who say this imagine that a "God beyond language" would promote inter-religious dialogue, because going beyond statements of beliefs would enable differences to be overcome and religious conflicts to be eliminated by a process of spiritual convergence around a link shared by all religions. Now this is not the case. We observe that the potential for violence inherent to expressions of religion has not been neutralised by the idea of a God beyond language and the dialogue between religions seems to be awaiting a lasting settlement. There must therefore be something wrong with the idea that God is beyond language. This article proposes to investigate this inaccuracy by making a detour via Ian Watson's science-fiction novel, The Embedding, which we use here as a support for an epistemological reflection to reveal the impasse of the shared link and the scepticism to which it leads. Finally, to the question of knowing what to think of the idea of a God beyond language, we could reply, in the wake of The Embedding: this is an idea from science-fiction.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Walter, 2019. "The Embedding or the Quest for “God” Beyond Language [L’enchâssement ou la quête de « Dieu » au-delà du langage]," Post-Print halshs-04503434, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04503434
    DOI: 10.4000/socio.7987
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04503434
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04503434/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4000/socio.7987?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. editors, 2015. "Volume 60, Contents Author Index 2015," Czech Journal of Animal Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 60(12), pages 1-1.
    2. editors, 2015. "Index of volume 42," Horticultural Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 42(4), pages 1-1.
    3. editors, 2015. "Index Of Volume 10," Soil and Water Research, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 10(4), pages 1-1.
    4. editors, 2015. "Index Of Volume 51, Authors Index," Czech Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 51(4), pages 1-1.
    5. editors, 2015. "Index of Volume 51 (2015)," Plant Protection Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 51(4), pages 1-1.
    6. editors, 2015. "Index Of Volume 61," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 61(12), pages 1-1.
    7. editors, 2015. "Volume 61, Contents," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 61(12), pages 1-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04503434. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.