The Sacrament Of Language

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Essence of the book: Unraveling the power and origins of the oath.

Recommendation: This fascinating exploration by Giorgio Agamben takes readers on a profound journey into the historical significance and symbolic power of oaths. The book highlights the critical role that oaths play in shaping politics, law, and religion, while unveiling the deep connection between language and humanity. If you're intrigued by the complex interplay between words, power, and identity, "The Sacrament of Language" is a must-read that will challenge and enlighten you.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

The Sacrament Of Language

Regular price
Unit price
per
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ISBN: 9780745649726
Authors: Giorgio Agamben
Publisher: Polity
Date of Publication: 2012-02-28
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Religion, Politics, Philosophy
Related Topics: Theology, Theory, Theory
Goodreads rating: 3.94
(rated by 146 readers)

Description

Oaths play an essential part in the political and religious history of the West as a 'sacrament of power'. Yet despite numerous studies by linguists, anthropologists and historians of law and of religion, there exists no complete analysis of the oath which seeks to explain the strategic function that this phenomenon has performed at the intersection of law, religion and politics. The oath seems to define man himself as a political animal, but what is an oath and from where does it originate? Taking this question as its point of departure, Giorgio Agamben's book develops a pathbreaking 'archaeology' of the oath. Via a firsthand survey of Greek and Roman sources which shed light on the nexus of the oath with archaic legislation, acts of condemnation and the names of gods and blasphemy, Agamben recasts the birth of the oath as a decisive event of anthropogenesis, the process by which mankind became humanity. If the oath has historically constituted itself as a 'sacrament of power', it has functioned at one and the same time as a 'sacrament of language' - a sacrament in which man, discovering that he can speak, chooses to bind himself to his language and to use it to put life and destiny at stake.
 

Essence of the book: Unraveling the power and origins of the oath.

Recommendation: This fascinating exploration by Giorgio Agamben takes readers on a profound journey into the historical significance and symbolic power of oaths. The book highlights the critical role that oaths play in shaping politics, law, and religion, while unveiling the deep connection between language and humanity. If you're intrigued by the complex interplay between words, power, and identity, "The Sacrament of Language" is a must-read that will challenge and enlighten you.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.