Abstract

GRASSI, MARTÍN. THE BIO-THEO-POLITICAL PARADIGM OF AUTARCHY AND THE PARADOXICAL LIVING GOD. Cuest. teol. [online]. 2021, vol.48, n.109, pp.51-64.  Epub Oct 31, 2021. ISSN 0120-131X.  https://doi.org/10.18566/cueteo.v48n109.a04.

In the Western tradition, life has been defined within the idea of reflexivity and unity. These two features of life are intertwined in what I call the Bio-Theo-Political Paradigm of autarchy, in which living beings are defined primarily as self-sufficient entities. The perfect living being, thus, will be the most autarchic, one that can achieve perfect unity within its own self- referred dynamics. This perfect living being is God, and Western theology (both Greek and Christian) conceptualized God as "thought of thought", for only the intellect can achieve a pure reflexive unity. However, Plotinus and Jean-Paul Sartre (two very different philosophers, coming from very different traditions and in very different contexts) showed the difficulties of such a definition of God. This paper aims at problematizing the Bio-Theo-Political Paradigm of autarchy by showing its inconsistency when reaching the idea of a perfect living being. In doing so, a need to rethink life and God is fostered, a need that Christian Theology in particular should face in order to build a theology of a Trinitarian living God.

Keywords : Life; God; Jean-Paul Sartre; Plotinus; Autarchy; Bio-Theo-Political Paradigm.

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