G*d's Excludedness: Beyond Language, Beyond the World: A Levinasian Reading of Ekklesia Gynaikon

Abstract

In this article, I shall argue that there is a way in which one might coherently read concurrent claims about the transcendence and immanence of God, such as those made by the feminist theologian, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. I shall argue that transcendence should not be read as oppositional to immanence and, following Levinas, I shall also argue that transcendence is not a property, but a relation. I claim that transcendence and In nity are closely connected, that they are analogous to Irigaray's use of jouissance and that language itself is the originary site of transcendence. I begin with a discussion of the central theoretical terms employed by Schüssler Fiorenza.