Introduction to Biopower and Biopolitics In 1976 cultural theorist Michel Foucault argued that a fundamental shift in power happened around the end of the eighteenth century.[1] For most of modernity, power was located in a sovereign, who had control over death and allowed everyone else to live. But by the
Pope Francis’s recent pilgrimage of penance to the First Nations of Canada has renewed calls in some quarters for him to formally revoke or rescind the “doctrine of discovery.”[1] This has left a lot of Christians, theologians among them, asking, “what is this ‘doctrine of discovery’ and why have I never
The fullness toward which every human life tends is not in contradiction with a condition of sickness and suffering . . . the call to human fulfillment does not exclude those who suffer. —Pope Francis, “Messaggio ai Assemblea Generale della Pontificia Accademia per la Vita” Human beings would have been
Certain segments of social media were dominated this spring by the daily courtroom duels between the teams of Amber Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp in the epic defamation trial between them. In brief, Depp sued Heard over her public allegations that he abused her (and Heard counter-sued). Celebrity gossip
Among the “great metaphors”[1] that characterize the texts of the Second Vatican Council, the “signs of the times” from the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes (GS §4) has received special attention. Karl Lehmann saw in it a “central legacy of the Council” that is still a task for today.[2] According to Joseph
Always seeking after fulfillment, yet unable to truly reach outside of himself in any creative act, Swann in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is both a pathetic and a tragic character whose example leaves a deep impression on the narrator of the novel. Throughout the story of Swann’s
The future of Catholic journalism is of great interest to me. This fact may surprise you, since I am neither a journalist nor a communications professional. I am a sacramental theologian whose doctoral work focused on liturgical formation in Augustine of Hippo. Yet, it is the doctor of grace himself who
Can something that has no image come as an image? . . . In my room a little lamp is always lighted before the icon at night—the light is dim and negligible, but nevertheless you can see everything. —Ippolit, in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot Ippolit’s stray observation about the Christ icon,