Agentive Names and Posthuman Ontologies

Onomastic Invocations of the “More-than-Human” in Early Christian and Medieval Tibetan Artifacts

Bibliographic Data

ID8206262
AuthorsJoseph Kimmel (0000-0002-2687-7180), Joseph L Kimmel (corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume91
Issue2
Pages430-448
Publication date2023-12-25
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jaarel/lfad083
OpenAlexW4390905958
LanguageEN
References cited26

In recent years, posthumanist arguments regarding ontology and agency have played a significant role in reshaping the contours of the so-called humanities. Whereas this reshaping has focused heavily on the impact of technology (e.g., artificial intelligence) on the meaning of “being human,” as well as on the agency of nonhuman others (e.g., nonhuman animals), typically invisible beings (e.g., gods, spirits) have received significantly less attention. This article addresses this lacuna through a close and comparative study of the role of the invocation of particular divine names in the canonical Acts of the Apostles and a tenth-century Tibetan spellbook. After examining how each text presents the onomastic invocation of divinities as an efficacious method, under certain conditions, for accomplishing particular goals, this article elucidates how such texts both challenge posthumanist thinkers to articulate much more robust accounts of agency and ontology while also providing a means of doing so

Agency (philosophy) · Epistemology · Invocation · Meaning (existential) · Ontology · Posthuman · Sociology · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Chinese history and philosophy · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy

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