[Themaintainers] theologies of maintenance

Mon Mar 18 17:08:54 EDT 2019

Hi David,
Good luck with your studies.  I think theology of maintenance is very cool
and will look forward to seeing your work.  In my meager knowledge of
Christian theology, Ilia Delio (spelling?) is a wonderful interpreter of
Teilhard de Chardin's evolutionary theology.  Fr. Richard Rohr writes about
them frequently and would probably be able to connect you to your theme of
creation and creator in the face of nothing.  I can send you a link.  he is
found at his Center for Action and Contemplation.  Very widely read and
knows multiple faiths approaches.  I also am fond of the theme of the
repairers of the breach from the Jewish tradition and social justice as
maintenance.  Good luck! Joe.

On Sun, Mar 17, 2019 at 1:19 PM Lawrence Greenspun <
Lawrence.Greenspun at cgu.edu> wrote:

> David,
>
> Great to "meet" you. I was a Jewish Studies/Religious Studies major at
> Penn in the mid-80s.
>
> As I read your questions, what immediately sprang to mind was the Lurianic
> Kabbalah concept of *tikkun olan (repair of the world), *following the *shevirat
> ha'kelim (shattering of the vessels)* carrying the divine sparks for
> creation of the world.
>
> Sorry if this was an obvious/simplistic example--it's been three decades
> since I've been immersed in this stuff.
>
> Lee's highlighting of the maintenance requirements of ritual objects in
> Judaism seems aligned with your thinking. I've always thought there were
> interesting parallels between the detail given for the building of the ark
> in Genesis (Noah's Ark) and the *Mishkan (Ark of the Covenant)* carried
> by the Children of Israel after receiving the Ten Commandments. The texts
> read almost like a DIY construction and maintenance manual. Don't know if
> there's anything there for you.
>
> Hope that's some help,
> Lawrence
>
> Lawrence Greenspun,  Director of Public Sector Engagement
> drucker.institute <https://www.drucker.institute/>* | *O: 909-607-8755;
> M: 610.667.3140* | *@DruckerInst <https://twitter.com/>
>  Drucker Institute  Manage with courage
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* themaintainers-bounces at lists.stevens.edu <
> themaintainers-bounces at lists.stevens.edu> on behalf of Lee Vinsel <
> lee.vinsel at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, March 17, 2019 12:03 PM
> *To:* David Zvi Kalman
> *Cc:* Themaintainers
> *Subject:* Re: [Themaintainers] theologies of maintenance
>
> Hi, David.
>
> I think you and I met briefly at SHOT St. Louis. Thanks for writing the
> list.
>
> I have been very interested in the relationship between religion and
> maintenance since Andy and I started working on this topic. I have talked
> to several people about this topic and some have brought it up at our
> Maintainers conferences. For instance, Varun Adibhatla talked about the
> image I paste below, drawing on Hindu theology around Vishnu, Siva, and
> Brahma. And I have talked to the philosopher Paul Boshears about notions of
> innovation, maintenance, and tradition in Confucianism. (A big issue is how
> different faiths approach these fundamental concepts.) But to my knowledge
> there has yet to be a larger conversation about it - I would love to see a
> workshop on the topic! - and I don't know of many publications.
>
> Of course, we have to be careful with our terms. At the broadest scale,
> religions with long histories are clearly very good at "maintaining"
> cultures by passing down ideas, beliefs, practices, etc. But even at a
> narrower level - the maintenance and repair of physical objects (that
> aren't neurons - lol) - religions have a lot to say. On pages 8-9 of
> "After Innovation, Turn to Maintenance" (attached), Andy and I layout a few
> thoughts, mostly in hopes of spurring further research. We talk about rules
> within Judaism around the inspection, maintenance, and repair of holy
> objects (which I learned about from my friend Robin Hammerman), and we
> discuss Francesca Bray's foundational work on Confucianism and technology,
> which has influenced us a great deal. Finally, Mike Geselowitz of the IEEE
> History Center is very interested in the precise idea you bring up from
> Jewish theology and Kabbalism: that without God's constant maintenance - or
> maybe more accurately constant RE-creation - existence would not exist. Oh,
> and a final, final thought: I have a soft spot for Bruno Latour's essay on
> Frankenstein, "Love Your Monsters
> <https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/issue-2/love-your-monsters>," which
> I think you could read in a theological light, including the light of
> Latour's Catholicism.
>
> Hopefully some other folks on the list will have more literature thoughts
> for you. I'm sure I'm forgetting things . . . it's Sunday and I'm foggy (as
> you can tell by the fact that I brought up Latour).
>
> Lee
>
> *From Varun Adibhatla's Maintainers talk: *
>
> [image: unnamed.png]
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 17, 2019 at 9:29 AM David Zvi Kalman <depst at sas.upenn.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm a PhD student working at the intersection of Jewish history and the
> history of technology. I'm currently doing research on "theologies of
> maintenance" — that is, understandings of God as a being without whom the
> universe would cease to exist/fall apart/etc.
>
> Does anyone know if this frame has been associated with technological
> maintenance in the past? There is so much rich material to work with and I
> would be surprised if I'm the first to look into this.
>
> Thanks,
>
> David Zvi Kalman
>
> --
> David Zvi Kalman
> PhD Candidate
> Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
> University of Pennsylvania
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>
>
> --
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Science, Technology, and Society
> Virginia Tech
> leevinsel.com
> Twitter: @STS_News
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-- 
Joseph T. DaBoll-Lavoie, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
School of Business and Leadership, Nazareth College

585-389-2572
 “Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the
nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all.” — John
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