The Madness of Love: Simone Weil's Kenotic Theology of Decreation

Abstract

This dissertation examines the notion of “decreation” in the thought of the French philosopher and mystic, Simone Weil. Although the term is ambiguous and contested, I argue that the kenotic hymn of Philippians 2 is crucial to understanding the concept and the related vocabulary of renunciation, sacrifice, obedience, slavery, and selflessness in her thought. Weil presents an incisive critique of modernity and the Christian culture within it that calls into question sovereignty and power as divine attributes to be emulated, and that turns instead to the alternative model of relation found in the radical and “mad” love of Christ’s self-emptying servanthood. I begin by examining Weil’s mystical reading of three of Plato’s dialogues (Symposium, Republic, Phaedrus), focusing on her interpretations of several images, speeches, and myths that clarify her understanding of the dynamics of love and force. I then turn to Marguerite Porete’s 14th century dialogue, The Mirror of Simple Souls, to suggest that Porete’s account of the soul’s annihilation in Love illuminates Weil’s concept of decreation. Finally, I consider how Weil imagined decreation might be embodied in her own time through what she calls the “spirituality of work,” which she presents as an alternative to the empire of force in her final text, The Need for Roots. Weil believed that given the right conditions, labour could become an ascetic practice through which the “I” is relinquished in a mutual servanthood that simultaneously “roots” one in the world. Through my analysis, I argue that the mystical, kenotic shape of Weil’s theology offers an account of how radical self-effacement might inform a politics of resistance to contemporary expressions of power, force, and empire.