Description
presented within the Panel on Sports and Religion a paper on:"Bodies of Glory: Agamben, Sport, and Being Fully Alive" and chaired the final discussion.The paper engages Giorgio Agamben’s philosophical reflections, particularly his analyses of glory, bare life, and embodiment, as a critical lens for rethinking sport within a Christian philosophical framework. Drawing from Irenaeus’ theological anthropology, expressed notably in his maxim “the glory of God is a human being fully alive,” this study examines sport as a locus of embodied theological revelation. It critically explores how Agamben’s concepts, articulated prominently in The Kingdom and the Glory, Homo Sacer, and Nudities, illuminate the tension and interplay between bare life and glorious life as these become manifest through athletic practice.
The central research question guiding this inquiry is: In what ways can Giorgio Agamben’s conceptualisation of glory, bare life, and embodiment enrich a Christian philosophical understanding of sport as a practice through which humans fully realise their embodied nature?
To address this question, the project unfolds in three interconnected movements. First, it elucidates Agamben’s nuanced understanding of glory and bare life, establishing a dialogue with theological accounts of embodiment rooted in Christian tradition. Second, it provides a philosophical analysis of sport, investigating its capacity to manifest human vulnerability, suffering, and transcendent potentialities vividly. Third, it offers a constructive theological-philosophical synthesis, arguing that sport embodies a distinctive expression of human-divine glory, thus enriching contemporary reflections on human flourishing and the embodied experience of the sacred in everyday practices.
| Period | 8 Jul 2025 → 12 Jul 2025 |
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| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Vienna, AustriaShow on map |