Power in the Name: Towards a Theological Posthumanism

Abstract

This dissertation examines ancient Mediterranean conceptions of proper names as powerful tools: under certain conditions, names like “Jesus” or “Aphrodite” were believed to channel power effective for healing, cursing, protecting, and related objectives. This study analyzes presentations of such onomastic power, including both texts which depict the power of spoken names, as well as particular objects (e.g., amulets), which feature inscribed names. In exploring this association between spoken/inscribed names and power, this project also considers comparative examples from a very different context, tenth-century Tibet. This comparative analysis enables critical reflection on the significant similarities (and differences) in the presentation of onomastic power across time and space, and thus illuminates potentially overlooked areas of resonance (and dissonance) among artifacts from very different contexts. Finally, a central contribution of this dissertation occurs in its application of ancient onomastic artifacts to contemporary conversations in posthumanist and neo-materialist philosophies. The dissertation shows how early Christian (and medieval Tibetan) texts and objects may be profitably examined in light of posthumanist and neo-materialist arguments (and vice versa). Such analysis in turn pushes these contemporary fields to consider the ontological and agentive implications of onomastic invocations that thus far have been overlooked. In addition, this analysis argues that such invocations represent a powerful but underutilized and underappreciated way of acting—“doing things”—both historically and in the world today.