“In the course of years of writing on imagination, hospitality, and touch, Richard Kearney has shown, in ways both philosophical and poetic, what it is to meet the world in a spirit of open-handed generosity. In this beautiful collection, we see a group of thinkers meeting strangers and horses, gods and trees; they encounter the living and the dead in the written word and the moving image, on the seashore and in the digital classroom, in the history of philosophy and in life lived in the flesh, all in that open spirit that reaches for empathy without presuming understanding. Thinking across genera- tions and in the midst of many orders of being, they show us all over again that the world is not just before our eyes but at our fingertips. If we are paying attention, the extraordinary shines through the ordinary. This is an exercise in thinking together. Be warned; you will find yourself thinking with these writers long after you have closed the book.” Anne O’Byrne, Philosophy, Stony Brook University, USA “If too many philosophers have colluded with a civilization out of touch with the lives, the bodies, the earth that make it up—this collection manifests an enlivening transdisciplinary alternative. Inspired by Richard Kearney’s body of work—in its adventures in embodiment, its refusal of the culture of discarnation, its revelatory ‘anacarnation’ and its oh-so-needed ecology—this conversation brilliantly unfolds the flesh of a radically hospitable hermeneutics.” Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew University, The Theological School, USA Anacarnation and Returning to the Lived Body with Richard Kearney This edited collection responds to Richard Kearney’s recent work on touch, excarnation, and embodiment, as well as his broader work in carnal hermeneutics, which sets the stage for his return to and retrieval of the senses of the lived body. Here, fourteen scholars engage the breadth and depth of Kearney’s work to illuminate our experience of the body. The chapters collected within take up a wide variety of subjects, from nature and non-human animals to our experience of the sacred and the demonic, and from art’s account of touching to the political implications of various types of embodiment. Featuring also an inspired new reflection from Kearney himself, in which he lays out his vision for “anacarnation,” this volume is an important statement about the centrality of touch and embodiment in our experience, and a reminder that, despite the excarnating tendencies of contemporary life, the lived body remains a touchstone for wisdom in our increasingly complicated and fragile world. Written for scholars and students interested in touch, embodiment, phenomenology, and hermeneutics, this diverse and challenging collection contributes to a growing field of scholarship that recognizes and attempts to correct the excarnating trends in philosophy and in culture at large. Brian Treanor is Professor of Philosophy and Charles S. Casassa SJ Chair at Loyola Marymount University in California, USA. James L. Taylor is Professor of Philosophy and Peacemaking and Director of International Programs at the European Center for the Study of War and Peace. The Psychology and the Other Book Series Series editor: David M. Goodman Associate editors: Brian W. Becker, Donna M. Orange, and Eric R. Severson The Psychology and the Other book series highlights creative work at the in- tersections between psychology and the vast array of disciplines relevant to the human psyche. The interdisciplinary focus of this series brings psychology into conversation with continental philosophy, psychoanalysis, religious studies, anthropology, sociology, and social/critical theory. The cross-fertilization of theory and practice, encompassing such a range of perspectives, encourages the exploration of alternative paradigms and newly articulated vocabularies that speak to human identity, freedom, and suffering. Thus, we are encouraged to reimagine our encounters with difference, our notions of the “other,” and what constitutes therapeutic modalities. The study and practices of mental health practitioners, psychoanalysts, and scholars in the humanities will be sharpened, enhanced, and illuminated by these vibrant conversations, representing pluralistic methods of inquiry, including those typically identified as psychoanalytic, humanistic, qualitative, phenomenological, or existential. Recent titles in the series include: misReading Plato Continental and Psychoanalytic Glimpses Beyond the Mask Edited by Matthew Clemente, Bryan J. Cocchiara, and William J. Hendel Neoliberalism, Ethics and the Social Responsibility of Psychology Dialogues at the Edge Edited by Heather Macdonald, Sara Carabbio-Thopsey and David M. Goodman Anacarnation and Returning to the Lived Body with Richard Kearney Brian Treanor and James L. Taylor For a full list of titles in the series, please visit the Routledge website at: https://www.routledge.com/Psychology-and-the-Other/book-series/PSYOTH Anacarnation and Returning to the Lived Body with Richard Kearney Edited by Brian Treanor and James L. Taylor Cover image: “Song of Amergin/I Am The Wave (#1),” 2018, Simone Kearney. First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Brian Treanor and James L. Taylor; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Brian Treanor and James L. Taylor to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Names: Treanor, Brian, editor. | Taylor, James, 1975- editor. Title: Anacarnation and returning to the lived body with Richard Kearney / edited by Brian Treanor and James L. Taylor. Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022015713 (print) | LCCN 2022015714 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032259215 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032259192 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003285649 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Kearney, Richard. | Touch. | Human body (Philosophy) | Hermeneutics. | Continental philosophy. Classification: LCC B945.K384 A53 2023 (print) | LCC B945.K384 (ebook) | DDC 128/.6--dc23/eng/20220810 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015713 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015714 ISBN: 978-1-032-25921-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-25919-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-28564-9 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003285649 Typeset in Times New Roman by MPS Limited, Dehradun Contents List of Contributors x Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: Re-touching Philosophy with Richard Kearney 1 BRIAN TREANOR AND JAMES L. TAYLOR PART I Touching Nature 11 1 Thinking Like a Jaguar: Carnal Hermeneutics, Touch, and the Limits of Language 13 BRIAN TREANOR 2 Sensing the Call of Other Animals: Carnal Hermeneutics, and the Ethico-Moral Imagination 32 MELISSA FITZPATRICK 3 The Embodied Human Being in Touch with the World: Richard Kearney, and Hedwig Conrad-Martius in Conversation 49 CHRISTINA M. GSCHWANDTNER PART II Touching the Sacred 67 4 Carnal Sacrality: Phenomenology, the Sacred, and Material Bodies in Richard Kearney 69 NEAL DEROO viii Contents 5 Deep Calls to Deep 86 DANIEL O’DEA BRADLEY 6 Strangers, Gods, and Demons: Toward a Carnal Hermeneutics of the Demonic 107 BRIAN GREGOR PART III Touching Imagination 127 7 Earth Creatures: Anacarnation in an Excarnate Age 129 M.E. LITTLEJOHN 8 Richard Kearney, Terrence Malick, and the Hidden Life of Sense 145 CHRISTOPHER YATES 9 Kearney’s Journey between Imagination, and Touch—in Dialogue with Ricœur 163 EILEEN BRENNAN PART IV Touching Flesh 177 10 Anaskesis: Retrieving Flesh in an Age of Excarnation 179 JAMES L. TAYLOR 11 Female Nakedness in Protest: Tactile Reading 194 SARIT LARRY 12 Touch Thyself: Kearney’s Anacarnational Return to Plato’s Forgotten Wisdom 207 MATTHEW CLEMENTE 13 No Longer a Spectator Only 215 TAMSIN JONES Contents ix PART V Finishing Touches 231 14 Anacarnation: Recovering Embodied Life 233 RICHARD KEARNEY Index 257