Agape and Personhood
with Kierkegaard, Mother, and Paul
(A Logic of Reconciliation from the Shamans to Today)
David L. Goicoechea
Postmodern Ethics Series
AGAPE AND PERSONHOOD
with Kierkegaard, Mother, and Paul (A Logic of Reconciliation from the Shamans to Today)
Postmodern Ethics Series 2
Copyright © 2011 David L. Goicoechea. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Pickwick Publications
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
www.wipfandstock.com
isbn 13: 978-1-60899-794-7
eisbn 13: 978-1-4982-7418-0
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Goicoechea, David
Agape and personhood : with Kierkegaard, mother, and Paul (a logic of reconciliation from the shamans to today) / David L. Goicoechea.
xxii + 358 p. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references.
Postmodern Ethics Series 2
isbn 13: 978-1-60899-794-7
1. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855. 2. Paul, the Apostle, Saint. 3. Motherhood. 4. Reconciliation—Religious aspects. I. Title. II. Series.
BL410 G65 2011
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
Postmodern Ethics Series
Postmodernism and deconstruction are usually associated with a destruction of ethical values. The volumes in the Postmodern Ethics series demonstrate that such views are mistaken because they ignore the religious element that is at the heart of existential-postmodern philosophy. This series aims to provide a space for thinking about questions of ethics in our times. When many voices are speaking together from unlimited perspectives within the postmodern labyrinth, what sort of ethics can there be for those who believe there is a way through the dark night of technology and nihilism beyond exclusively humanistic offerings? The series invites any careful exploration of the postmodern and the ethical.
Series Editors:
Marko Zlomislić (Conestoga College)
David Goicoechea (Brock University)
Other Volumes in the Series:
Cross and Khôra: Deconstruction and Christianity in the Work of John D. Caputo edited by Neal DeRoo and Marko Zlomislić
Future Volumes:
David Goicoechea is producing “Millennial Meditations on 2000 Years of Christian Love: A Postmodern Summa—Agape as Reconciliation,” of which the present volume is the first of nine.
I Agape and Personhood with Kierkegaard, Mother, and Paul (A Logic of Reconciliation from the Shamans to Today)
II Agape and the Four Loves with Nietzsche, Father, and Q (A Physiology of Reconciliation from the Greeks to Today)
III Agape and Ahav-Hesed with Levinas-Derrida and Matthew, at Mt. Angel-St. Thomas (A Doxology of Reconciliation from Moses and David to Today)
IV Agape and Bhakti with Bataille and Mark, at Loyola-St. Francis (A Mysticology of Reconciliation based on Hindu Karma from Arjuna to Augustine)
V Agape and Karuna with Foucault and Luke, at Brock Philosophy Department (A Therapeutology of Reconciliation based on Buddhist No-Self from Buddha to Francis)
VI Agape and Rahim with Deleuze, Brock Philosophy Society, and John (An Atheology of Reconciliation based on Islamic Sharia from Muhammad to Luther)
VII Agape and Zen with Kristeva, Wilhelmina, and Catholic School (A Semiology of Reconciliation based on Japanese No-Drama from Nishida to John XXIII)
VIII Agape and Jen with Cixous, Carolyn, and Pauline School (A Phenomenology of Reconciliation based on the Confucianist Family from Tu Wei-Ming to John Paul II)
IX Agape and Tao with Irigaray, Johanna, and the Johannine School (An Eschatology of Reconciliation based on Taoist Gendering from Moeller to Benedict XVI)
For my mother dear
with whom I still love
to pray the Rosary each morning.
“Mother at about the time she started praying her daily rosary”
Acknowledgments
In getting out this first volume I owe a debt of great gratitude to my wife, Dr. Johanna M. Tito, who has helped me so much in so many ways. Secondly, I want to thank all those at Pickwick Publications and especially Chris Spinks and Kristen Bareman with whom it has been such a delight to work and who have done such a terrific job in getting the book ready for publication. Thirdly, I want to thank Dr. Marko Zlomislic who has helped me so much over the past 20 years. Thanks also to my good friend Ms. Dorothy Korchok for patiently helping me with proofreading the entire book.
Detailed Line of Argument
Part One: Joyful Beginnings
I. Mother
I.1 With Her Anglican Mother
I.1.1 Identification in Mother-Daughter Bonding
I.1.2 In the Attitude of Complacent Agape
I.1.3 In the Mood of Concerned Agape
I.1.4 In the Sense of Proactive Sensitivity
I.1.5 In the Passion of Positive Emotions
I.1.6 In the Logic of True Thoughts
I.1.7 In the Intonation of Incantational Words
I.1.8 In the Peace of a Gentle Touch
I.1.9 In the Construction of Upbuilding Deeds
I.2 With Her Mormon Father
I.2.1 In the Logic of the Triad
I.2.2 In the Logic of the Quadrad
I.2.3 In the Logic of the Quadratic Weaning
I.2.4 In the First Deceptive Weaning
I.2.5 In the Third Weaning of Mutual Mourning
I.2.6 In the Fourth Weaning or Providing Sustenance
I.2.7 Pauline Universalism—Johannine Exclusivism
I.2.8 Dyadic Johannine Glory
I.2.9 Pauline Triadic Glory
I.3 With Her Catholic Husband
I.3.1 The Holy Ideal and the Justice of Peace
I.3.2 Holy Child
I.3.3 Sacred Priest—Sacred Baptism—Sacred Matrimony
I.3.4 The Holy, the Sacred, and the Profane
I.3.5 Holy War—Holy Pregnancy—Holy Daughter
I.3.6 The Holy and the Sacred
I.3.7 Paul and John Becoming