[Themaintainers] theologies of maintenance

[David Zvi Kalman]

Hi all—I realize I never followed up on this. For this interested, I'm
speaking tonight at 6:30. The title is "Theology and Disruptive Technology:
Crisis and Opportunity."

Here's the description: "As technology plays an ever-larger role in the
lives of individuals, the fate of nations, and the destiny of the world
itself, a reconciliation between technology and Jewish theology has become
ever more important. In this session, we will attempt to forecast where
technology might lead Jewish theology over the next hundred years and
consider the crucial role that Jewish theology can have in shaping
technological development in turn."

You can sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2388527184490930/

On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 at 02:34, David Zvi Kalman <depst at sas.upenn.edu> wrote:

> Thanks, everyone for your comments. I sent my email just before getting on
> a 15 hour flight and I was so glad to open my inbox and hear that the topic
> is of interest to others! Needless to say, I will follow up on your leads.
>
> I'll share a little more of some of the directions that I'm thinking about:
>
> - In Jewish and Islamic theology (I work in both), there are notions of
> God's role as constant maintainer of the universe. I think it may actually
> be stronger in Islam, because Islamic theology takes more seriously the
> idea that humans lack free will, that everything—including the movement of
> the celestial spheres—is directly coordinated by God.
> - There's certainly a feminist theology angle here—maintenance work is
> often associated with women, often undervalued, etc. I think this is a very
> important angle.
> - For Judaism, I suspect there's a link to the Sabbath, i.e. a day of
> non-creation, as the pinnacle of the week. Theologians like Abraham Joshua
> Heschel have already attempted to turn this into a kind of bucking of
> American notions of progress, but I don't think the notion of "maintenance"
> shows up as much.
> - I wonder—both for Judaism and Christianity—perhaps not Islam, in which
> Gabriel plays a more critical role?—if maintenance is associated with the
> notion of angels, i.e. divine beings who do lesser work or more "invisible"
> work.
> - Of course, many religions place a special emphasis on reflecting on
> goodness in the present moment. In Judaism, the blessing said after
> relieving oneself has a line, "If one [orifice] is opened, or one is closed
> [when it shouldn't be], it would be impossible to exist and stand before
> You, even for a single moment." Food blessings—basically anything that
> involves thanksgiving—reflect on the path by which the food has come to the
> table.
>
> For those interested, I'll be giving a talk at the Shalom Hartman
> Institute in Manhattan on May 1 that will cover some of these issues—I
> don't have the details yet, but I'm happy to share them when I do.
>
>
>
> On Sun, 17 Mar 2019 at 17:44, Bastien <bzg at bzg.fr> wrote:
>
>> Hi David,
>>
>> David Zvi Kalman <depst at sas.upenn.edu> writes:
>>
>> > 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.
>>
>> Not directly related to your inquiry, but I've always wondered if
>> the thought experiment of the "ship of theseus" (which dates back to
>> Heraclitus) was born out of everyday concerns, or if it was somehow
>> related to biblical or mythical narratives.
>>
>> > 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.
>>
>> Whitehead's theory of God in _Process and Reality_ pictures a God who
>> is both actively "building" the universe and "patient" with it.  It's
>> a mix between Leibniz's God as an architect and Spinoza's God as being
>> the nature itself in the becoming. As far as I can remember, Whitehead
>> does not refer to technical maintenance or to "repairing", but his all
>> vision resonates with technical maintainance issues a lot (or perhaps
>> that's just me).
>>
>> 2 cents,
>>
>> --
>>  Bastien
>>
>
>
> --
> David Zvi Kalman
> PhD Candidate
> Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
> University of Pennsylvania
> --
> Sent from phone
>


-- 
David Zvi Kalman
PhD Candidate
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
University of Pennsylvania
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