{"id":23499,"date":"2024-05-01T16:55:37","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T14:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/?p=23499"},"modified":"2024-05-13T17:33:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T15:33:00","slug":"rachel-pafe-berlin-the-miracle-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/rachel-pafe-berlin-the-miracle-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Pafe (Berlin): The Miracle of Love Amidst the Crushes of War: Thinking through The Iliad with Susan Taubes and Simone Weil"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"23499\" class=\"elementor elementor-23499\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-ac790c3 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"ac790c3\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a51f84d\" data-id=\"a51f84d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c13c0c1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"c13c0c1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"910\" height=\"1023\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rachel.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-23532\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rachel.webp 910w, https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rachel-267x300.webp 267w, https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rachel-768x863.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 910px) 100vw, 910px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-66 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-30681a5\" data-id=\"30681a5\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-21a8431 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"21a8431\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Rachel Pafe is a writer and researcher interested in modern Jewish thought and critical theories of mourning. She is currently doing a joint PhD at Goethe University of Frankfurt and Universit\u00e9 Lille.<\/p><p><span style=\"color: #0e0c12;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #0e0c12;\">For more information visit\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"background-color: #f9f8f8;\" href=\"https:\/\/rachelpafe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rachel&#8217;s Page.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-bd77eba elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"bd77eba\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8649970\" data-id=\"8649970\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-810c1c7 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"810c1c7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-06dfbe0 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"06dfbe0\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-d005339\" data-id=\"d005339\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-955c697 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"955c697\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>To read the German-version of the article, please click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/rachel-pafe-berlin-das-wunder-der-liebe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-e18d423 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"e18d423\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2fe10fc\" data-id=\"2fe10fc\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-344c940 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"344c940\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1b69dbc elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1b69dbc\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-0b502ea\" data-id=\"0b502ea\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cc6651c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cc6651c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In her 1956 dissertation on French philosopher-mystic Simone Weil, Hungarian-American philosopher and writer Susan Taubes often harshly presents Weil&#8217;s theology of an absent, impotent God who wills human suffering as representative of a retreat from practical attempts to combat injustice and alleviate the suffering of others. Yet what at first seems like an outright rejection of Weil, especially through what Taubes describes as Weil\u2019s later \u201ctheological turn\u201d away from her earlier political thought, becomes more complex. Taubes often agrees with many of Weil\u2019s basic critiques of violent modern institutions and political systems that perpetuate violence. I argue that indeed, Taubes\u2019 critique of Weil is so harsh at times because she sees many of Weil\u2019s later more extreme and fatalistic conclusions as wasting the potential opportunities of her original insights. This is particularly evident in Taubes\u2019 analysis of Weil\u2019s essay \u201cThe Iliad, or The Poem of Force\u201d (1945) as a strong example of Weil\u2019s thought on the precipice of her so-called theological turn, namely as a site in which qualities eventually transferred solely to a supernatural God are still seen as human possibilities.<\/p><p><br \/>Taubes argues that the subject of Weil\u2019s essay, the geometrically equal application of force and violence in the epic war poem<i> The Iliad<\/i>, is a connecting thread between Weil\u2019s early political work and later theological writings in which Weil\u2019s growing fatalism concerning worldly violence crystallizes into a theological principle. My paper traces the liminal space that Taubes points out in Weil\u2019s essay: the chance for the miracle of love between friends, family, and loved ones as a respite from the ravages of violence and power. Taubes argues that this human miracle of love and Weil\u2019s later concept of the supernatural grace of an absent and impotent God are \u201cthe same truth\u201d, or means of saving a part of the human soul, for Weil. Yet, Taubes asserts, Weil eventually chooses the \u201csurer option\u201d of supernatural grace for want of a more totalistic solution. I argue that Taubes sees Weil\u2019s notion of the miracle of human love as central to her own ethical vision: a call to embrace both the uncertain absence of God and brief moments of love between humans that shine through the darkness.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8f6dd17\" data-id=\"8f6dd17\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fd3f5ba elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"fd3f5ba\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h6>Taubes was born in Budapest, Hungary on January 12th, 1928, to secular Jewish parents and immigrated to the United States in 1939. In the late forties and early fifties, Taubes undertook a BA in philosophy at Bryn Mawr College and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, where she interacted with Emmanuel Levinas, Albert Camus, and Simone Pe\u0301tremont. In 1956, she became the first woman to obtain a PhD at Harvard. Recent scholarship on Taubes emphasizes the context in which she undertook her philosophical work, namely that she was active in the first decade after WWII indelibly stamped by the memories of recent extreme violence, the impact of Nietzsche\u2019s understanding of the death of God, and the blending of estrangement and <br \/>hopes for salvation. (1)<\/h6><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>After writing her dissertation, Taubes then lectured at Columbia University and Barnard College, and worked as a curator at Columbia\u2019s Bush Collection of Religion and Culture from <br \/>1958-1962. This culminated in many ways in her final, recently republished novel, <i>Divorcing<\/i>, which arguably offers some of the most radical, poetic articulations of her ethical vision. It was shortly after the publication of <i>Divorcing<\/i> in 1969 that Taubes took her own life.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h6>Taubes\u2019 dissertation deals with Weil in three sections: an analysis of her early political writings, an analysis of what she deems Weil\u2019s later \u201ctheological turn\u201d, and a proposition of a unique ethical vision that both draws on and sharply diverges from Weil. A main crux of Taubes\u2019 discussion is that Weil\u2019s search for a solution to human suffering is first combatted through an engagement with Marxist, syndicalist thought in her political writings, but takes a defeatist turn in her theological writings. Namely, Taubes posits that Weil\u2019s turn to theology represents a final attempt to find an absolute explanation for suffering by tying violence and oppression to supernatural causes. In response to the suffering of others, Taubes argues that Weil sought an absolute solution to \u201cthe silence of God&#8230;by radicalizing a secular dilemma to the point where it demands a theological solution\u201d. (2)<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2ab1a5b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2ab1a5b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-c0ffde9\" data-id=\"c0ffde9\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-896380b elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"896380b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/780px-Seated_Female_Figure._Study_for_the_Figure_of_the_Iliad_in-_The_Apotheosis_of_Homer_MET_1972.118.219.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-23525\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/780px-Seated_Female_Figure._Study_for_the_Figure_of_the_Iliad_in-_The_Apotheosis_of_Homer_MET_1972.118.219.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/780px-Seated_Female_Figure._Study_for_the_Figure_of_the_Iliad_in-_The_Apotheosis_of_Homer_MET_1972.118.219-260x300.jpg 260w, https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/780px-Seated_Female_Figure._Study_for_the_Figure_of_the_Iliad_in-_The_Apotheosis_of_Homer_MET_1972.118.219-768x886.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Study for the Figure of the Iliad in the Apotheosis of Homer<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-64749ce elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"64749ce\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3bc5e94\" data-id=\"3bc5e94\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bf938b1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"bf938b1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>For Weil, an absent and impotent God has abandoned the world of violence and suffering, which makes the human relation with God one in which \u201csupernatural love is not a quickening of the soul; [but&#8230;] a kind of death\u201d. (3)<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>In this schema, humans cannot intervene in the violent world that God created and abandoned; the only way to receive the grace of this God is to embrace the incredible suffering of the world and enter a process of de-creation, or the removal of the bodily self from the world.<\/p><p><br \/>In the final chapter of Part I of Taubes\u2019 dissertation, \u201cFrom Socialism to the Supernatural\u201d, Taubes positions Weil\u2019s essay \u201cThe Iliad, or The Poem of Force\u201d (1945) as the strongest example of the grounding of her theological turn, alongside her reflections on work written in Marseilles (1941-1942). She argues that while this essay does not yet posit the explicit terminology that Weil uses in her later writing on theological issues, it deals with similar themes, particularly the alienating power of human misery in war and the dehumanizing capacities of oppression. Interestingly, Weil does not mention Greek religious practices in this essay but does draw a parallel to the Gospels, stating that they are the last example of the Greek genius because they both exhort humans to seek godly good above all else, but namely because human suffering is revealed in the figure of Christ. Taubes argues that in \u201cThe Iliad, or The Poem of Force,\u201d Weil reacts in a fatalistic manner to the ravages of power, which later crystallizes into a theological principle. Yet in \u201cThe Iliad,\u201d Weil does not mention the supernatural. She:<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><blockquote>achieves a sustained lucidity of tragic insight, as if her mind found a poise between the desperate search for a solution to social problems and the need to find a religious explanation for man\u2019s suffering, and could allow human affliction to speak for itself without seeking for solutions of explanations. (4)<\/blockquote><p>In \u201cThe Iliad, or The Poem of Force,\u201d Weil analyzes Homer\u2019s <i>The Iliad<\/i>, an epic poem that famously tells of the last year of the ten-year Trojan War in which the Greek states fight Troy in the attempt to reclaim Helen, the wife of Melelaus, King of Sparta, who was captured by Trojan prince Paris. Literary critic Christopher Benfey argues that what is most striking about this essay is the way in which Weil reinterprets and translates Homer\u2019s poem to make it decidedly more violent than the original. (5) This focus comes through in several examples of Weil\u2019s particular translation, especially a passage where Achilles pushes away Priam as he begs for mercy. While Weil\u2019s version presents this gesture as yet another example of all-consuming violence and men reduced to the status of objects, other translations such as Robert Fagle\u2019s include the word \u201cgently\u201d, which changes this moment from one of degradation to one of empathetic connection.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1ffd957\" data-id=\"1ffd957\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cba65fe elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cba65fe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Benfey underlines that, \u201cthe point is not whether Weil misreads Homer, but why she does so\u2026Weil has extracted from the complicated weave of Homer\u2019s narrative two sharply etched \u2018disasters of war\u2019\u201d. (6) Taubes likewise underscores the overarching theme of Weil\u2019s essay as the geometric, or equal application, of brute force, \u201cforce employed by man, force that enslaves man, force before which man\u2019s flesh shrinks away\u201d. (7) In this context, Taubes argues that just as Weil\u2019s later theological writing was concerned with the balance of forces of natural gravity and supernatural grace, or the violence of the immanent world versus the supreme transcendence of divine love, so is her <i>Iliad<\/i> essay concerned with the balance of war and peace. Weil underlines <i>The Iliad<\/i> as a supreme example of the equity of force and violence, one in which \u201cbitterness that proceeds from tenderness and that spreads over the whole human race, as impartial as sunlight\u201d in the context of a force so powerful that, \u201cexercised to the limit, it turns man into a thing in the most literal sense: it makes a corpse out of him\u201d. (8).<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Weil traces the equal application of such force in T<i>he Iliad<\/i> as it destroys the humanity of victims and victors alike. Weil emphasizes that \u201cby its very blindness, destiny establishes a kind of justice\u201d through a \u201cgeometrical rigor\u201d rooted in the power of force to efface all who touch it. (9) Yet Taubes underlines that Weil mentions exceptions to such equal and all-effacing violence, namely moments of what she terms \u201cgrace,\u201d or moments in which it is possible for humans to save the soul from the total ravages of violence and resist becoming an object. She argues that:<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><blockquote>What is important is that this grace does not serve to server man\u2019s earthly attachments, but on the contrary, radiates from a tenderness for all that men cherish in their earthly city. The moments of grace in this poem of violence and horror are \u2018those brief celestial moments in which man possesses his soul.\u2019 The love between man and wife, parents and children, between friends, gestures of hospitality figure as instances of such moments of grace, which however rare in the Iliad \u2018are enough to make us feel with sharp regret what it is that violence has killed and will kill again. (10)<\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2fa6cbf elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2fa6cbf\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-59383b7\" data-id=\"59383b7\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5871dec elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"5871dec\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rodato.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-23527\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rodato.webp 750w, https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rodato-300x192.webp 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Carole Raddato (CC-BY-NC-SA)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-571a802 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"571a802\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-69da48c\" data-id=\"69da48c\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8e1316f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"8e1316f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>This passage is significant because Taubes devotes much energy in later chapters to describing Weil\u2019s later theology as that of an impotent and absent God who wills ceaseless human suffering. Weil emphasizes the element of human choice and decision to enter the aforementioned process of de-creation as the sole means of human decision in a world otherwise predetermined by the cruel hand of fate. In accepting this process, the human is able to avoid being reduced to a mere object by the forces of ceaseless violence around them. They are thus able to guard the tiny spark of God within their soul from worldly destruction and lead it to reunion with the transcendent supernatural God.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Yet Weil\u2019s Iliad essay, written on the precipice of her \u201cturn\u201d to such theological writing, does not mention the supernatural and seems to present human love and community as capable of such an act of saving the soul. Taubes underlines that, \u201cThe world of war depicted in the Iliad thus reflects, in however infinitesimal degree, the light of another world: \u2018the faraway precarious touching world of peace, of the family, the world in which each man counts more than anything else to those about him.\u2019\u201d (11) Weil is thus aware of a level of transcendence available through human capacities, an awareness that Taubes sees as paralleling her later investment in supernatural capacities:<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><blockquote>Perhaps the \u2018supernatural\u2019, the reality \u2018outside of this world\u2019 and the spirit of grace, justice, and love which though they have hardly any place in the poem of war \u2018nevertheless bathe the work in their light, without ever becoming noticeable themselves, except as a kind of accent\u2019 ultimately designated the same truth for Simone Weil. And yet the reflections that issued from her own religious position confirm the suspicion that if the supernatural safeguards the image of the forsaken reality of man\u2019s soul, and perhaps more \u2018categorically\u2019 than poetry, it tends, unlike poetry, to usurp the soul\u2019s treasures for itself, never to return them again to man\u2019s everyday reality, so that the world is abandoned to its wars and grace flourished by denuding man of his earthly vestment, and dispossessing him of that part of his soul which is earthbound. (12)<\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-9cfdbb8\" data-id=\"9cfdbb8\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4019c15 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4019c15\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Taubes asserts that despite Weil\u2019s recognition of the possibilities of human communal love and connection, she eventually found supernatural truth proved to be the surer and more total guardian of man\u2019s soul. This is the crux of Taubes\u2019 argument, namely that the cost of turning to the surer supernatural is too high because this necessitates removing man\u2019s soul from the immanent world and reality.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>As she notes in the previous passage, the supernatural \u201ctends, unlike poetry, to usurp the soul\u2019s treasures for itself, never to return them again to man\u2019s everyday reality, so that the world is abandoned to its wars and grace flourished by denuding man of his earthly vestment.\u201d Weil\u2019s turn, Taubes asserts, comes at the cost of abandoning real-life struggles in the world and any engagement with reality.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>At various other moments throughout her dissertation, Taubes returns to the question of how to engage with the reality of violence through exploring this idea of inter-human moments of love as first described in her analysis of Weil\u2019s Iliad essay. Taubes is interested in this essay precisely because it seems to be the precipice that Weil leans on before withdrawing her hope from the immanent world and human connections and communities within it. The conclusion of her dissertation, which includes Taubes\u2019 unfinished but evocative ethical vision, is rooted in the dismantling of the boundary between the aforementioned idea of human love and supernatural grace.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Taubes laments that despite the possibilities of Weil\u2019s thought, namely that it points the way to a new kind of saintliness that arises from the absence of God, Weil is not able to accept such implications because of her reliance on the idea of a divine power. (13). The traditional model of sainthood, Taubes notes, is rooted in the model of the saint facing spiritual hardships but never questioning their faith in God. She proposes the new saint as one who faces such challenges in the absence of God and develops a form of spirituality precisely premised on this absence. (14) Yet:<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><blockquote>Simone Weil recoils from drawing the radical consequences of the divinity of the soul in the absence of God, and removes the scandal of man\u2019s superiority to \u201cGod\u201d (i.e. blind force and necessity) by restoring the theistic frame. The metaphor of the absent God, which at one stage merely provides the scaffolding for a trans-theistic spiritualism, is built upon a solid theological edifice. (15)<\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-628cb3b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"628cb3b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5ee6f4f\" data-id=\"5ee6f4f\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-37c0b49 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"37c0b49\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"497\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0886ca81eed13ba07095272dac675357.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-23528\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0886ca81eed13ba07095272dac675357.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0886ca81eed13ba07095272dac675357-300x155.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0886ca81eed13ba07095272dac675357-768x398.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Three scenes of the Iliad, Atelier Cuypers-Stoltzenberg (1852\u20131947)   <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4b6e28c elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4b6e28c\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-86f37c2\" data-id=\"86f37c2\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fa216ec elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"fa216ec\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In this context, Taubes frames the power of the absent God as rooted in its metaphorical potential rather than an actual divine presence. This act enables one to dwell in the notion of \u201cthe divinity of the soul in the absence of God\u201d while simultaneously refusing a theistic frame. (16) Such a negative theological refusal imbues humans with spiritual energy not tied to a transcendent divine power. Building on this argument, Taubes asserts that Weil\u2019s efforts to accept God as the source of the absolute good fail because there are no examples of His love to be found in the world, thus forcing Weil to return to human acts of love:<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><blockquote><p>While the God of Simone Weil\u2019s theology is \u201cgood by definition\u201d, she must constantly appeal to human acts of supernatural love, justice, and humility as the only visible manifestations of good in the world. In contrast, God\u2019s goodness manifests itself in its absence in the world, through evil. (17).<\/p><\/blockquote><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Taubes accordingly describes human love as \u201csupernatural\u201d in the passage above, underlining her model of saintliness in which humankind becomes divine in the absence of God. (18) This love finds itself alongside justice and humility as other saintly virtues, contrasted with God\u2019s \u201cabsence\u201d and \u201cevil.\u201d The dissonance of not finding any instances of God\u2019s good manifest in the world, Taubes argues, leads Weil to a paradoxical position in which she rejects belief in God\u2019s intervention in human life and revels in this radical uncertainty, yet contradicts this stance through her absolute certainty in an absent divine presence. Thinking back to her aforementioned argument that the humanly love described by Weil in the Iliad her later notion of grace are the same thing, Taubes suggests that the acceptance of this uncertainty leads to a reclamation of love as grace in firmly human hands. Namely, it \u201callow(s) human affliction to speak for itself without seeking for solutions of explanations\u201d, religious or otherwise.<\/p><p><br \/>In this schema, Taubes asserts that, \u201cIn the \u2018death of God\u2019 the messianic vision of the emancipated spiritual man who lives by grace, beyond good and evil, was reborn in a new form\u201d. (19) She thus ends her dissertation with a powerful call for the potential of reveling in the absence of God: the vision of human spirituality able to transcend the theistic dichotomy of good and evil and able to reclaim love and grace as immanent virtues geared towards an ongoing, imperfect search for worldly justice.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-853d3c2\" data-id=\"853d3c2\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-edfa7e9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"edfa7e9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>Footnotes<\/b><\/p><p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p><h5>1. See: Sigrid Weigel. \u201cBetween the Philosophy of Religion and Cultural History: Susan Taubes on the Birth of Tragedy and the Negative Theology of Modernity.\u201d Telos 150 (2010): 115-135. http:\/\/journal.telospress.com\/content\/2010\/150\/115<br \/>2. Taubes, Susan. The Absent God: A Study of Simone Weil. Unpublished dissertation from Harvard University, 1956, 140.<br \/>3. Ibid, 241.<br \/>4. Ibid, 154.<br \/>5. Weil, Simone and Rachel Bespaloff. War and the Iliad. Trans. Mary McCarthy. New York: New York Review of Books, 2005.<br \/>6. Ibid, xv.<br \/>7. Weil, Simone. The Iliad or the Poem of Force, 3.<br \/>8. Ibid, 3.<br \/>9. Ibid, 13.<br \/>10. Taubes, Susan. The Absent God: A Study of Simone Weil, pp. 155-156.<br \/>11. Ibid, 156.<br \/>12. Ibid. 157.<br \/>13. Weil is described as a \u201cnew kind of saint\u201d in Eric Tomlin\u2019s early exploration of her work. See: Eric Tomlin. Simone Weil. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1954.<br \/>14. Christina Pareigis discusses Taubes\u2019 \u201cnegative theology\u201d, especially in relation to her correspondence with Jacob Taubes, stating, \u201cSusan Taubes\u2019s own conceptual labor involved an effort to integrate a partly personal, partly collective experience of extreme violence into a distinctive mode of civilizational critique: one catalyzed by a dialectic secularizing movement in which nihilism is transformed into a negative theology.\u201d Pareigis, Christina. \u201cSearching for the Absent God: Susan Taubes\u2019 Negative Theology.\u201d Telos 150, 97-110 (2020). http:\/\/journal.telospress.com\/content\/2010\/150\/97.abstract.<br \/>15. Taubes, Susan. The Absent God: A Study of Simone Weil, 378.<br \/>16. On the topic of Taubes\u2019 critique of Weil\u2019s mystical atheism, see: Elliot Wolfson, The Philosophical Pathos of Susan Taubes (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023). See especially: \u201cChapter Four: Tragedy, Mystical Atheism\u201d in which Wolfson discusses the idea that \u201cApophatic theology is not sufficient and must be transposed kataphatically if one is to establish a relationship to a divine being that is present\u201d (Wolfson 2023: 221).<br \/>17. Taubes, Susan. The Absent God: A Study of Simone Weil, 373.<br \/>18. This notion of the supernatural human is also very closely connected for Taubes with the topic of Gnosticism, which I lack the space to unpack in this essay. I discussed Taubes\u2019 relation to Gnosticism in a co-authored text with Mimi Howard, \u201cHoward, Mimi, Pafe, Rachel (2020). Selves Amidst the Blushing Dead: The Task of Reclamation in Susan Taubes\u2019 Divorcing. In: R. Pafe (Ed.) Reading Scholem in Constellation. Berlin: Colorama Press and PseudoPress, 2020) and my MA thesis, Susan Taubes and the Absent God: On the Critique of Religious Tyranny and an Ethics of Mourning (Universit\u00e4t Potsdam, 2021). See also: Epstein, Deborah. \u201cGnosis und Dialektik bei Susan Taubes\u201d in Geschichtsphilosophie und Eschatologie: Perspektiven nach Jacob Taubes. M\u00fcnster: Lit Verlag, 2024.<br \/>19. Taubes, Susan. The Absent God: A Study of Simone Weil, 391.<\/h5><p>\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rachel Pafe is a writer and researcher interested in modern Jewish thought and critical theories of mourning. She is currently doing a joint PhD at Goethe University of Frankfurt and Universit\u00e9 Lille. \u00a0 For more information visit\u00a0Rachel&#8217;s Page. To read the German-version of the article, please click\u00a0here.\u00a0 In her 1956 dissertation on French philosopher-mystic Simone &#8230; <a title=\"Rachel Pafe (Berlin): The Miracle of Love Amidst the Crushes of War: Thinking through The Iliad with Susan Taubes and Simone Weil\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/rachel-pafe-berlin-the-miracle-of-love\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Rachel Pafe (Berlin): The Miracle of Love Amidst the Crushes of War: Thinking through The Iliad with Susan Taubes and Simone Weil\">Mehr &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[259,261,47,50],"class_list":["post-23499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein","tag--liebe-love","tag--literatur-literature","tag-body","tag-writing","infinite-scroll-item","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23499"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23550,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23499\/revisions\/23550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hu-berlin.de\/simoneweil-denkkollektiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}