Nomad Thought: Using Gregory of Nyssa and Deleuze and Guattari to Deterritorialize Mysticism

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper has an interesting point of view, and follows an unconventional thread regarding Gregory's conception on epektasis.

 I would add to the exile and nomad typoi (lines 156-157) Cain and Abel. An argument is provided by Andre Scrima who sees in the biblical account of Cain and Abel the reference to a set of fundamental archetypes, already distinguishing “a first polarity, well defined: the shepherd (nomad) and the worker of the earth, related to the earth (sedentary) […] The human type accepted by the divine, the one recognized by him and whose sacrifice is invested with an ascending and effective meaning, is that of the nomad Abel. The sedentary Cain is not accepted by God. The smoke of Cain’s sacrifice spreads horizontally across the earth, not up into the sky. The condition of the itinerant seems to have more chances to assume the perspective of recognition, with its double sense of mutual knowledge and gratitude, than the condition of the sedentary has; the former seems to have access to the mystery of the divine” (Andre Scrima, “Experienţa spirituală şi limbajul său. Tradiţia creştină,” in idem, Experienţa spirituală şi limbajele ei, ed. Anca Manolescu (Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2008), p. 178-179).

 In the footnote 7 you could add that at the beginning of the Church, Christianity was called the “Way” (ὁ ὁδός – cf. Acts 22.4)

 Line 187: “If Christ is the path,”. He says so… John 14, 6 and you can use the reference.

 Line 275, and other places: “desire as lack and desire as excess”. Perhaps it would be less confusing if you add “unsatisfaction” vs “insatiability”, or other terms you are confortable with.

 I think you should develop more the Conclusions.

Line 538-539: “There are of course many chilling examples of such religious war machines manifesting violent resistance to State Power.” Please show more of these examples.

 These observations are optional from my point of view. Still, for a further research you should reconsider to connect the nomad itinerancy and the inner resistence to the monasticism, rather than the mystical epektasis.

 

 

 

Author Response

Reviewer one’s suggestions were most useful.  Though I have chosen to not add the Cain and Abel example to my article, because too long to be meaningful in the context of my article, I have integrated answers to points 2, 3, and 4 into the article.  Because Islamic terrorism is so present to so many people today, I actually cut out the examples, which I do not feel are necessary, so I have chosen to not add more examples as per comment 5.  I have also not added anything regarding monasticism, though the point is well made, simply because it would draw me further away from the parallel with postmodern thought that I am focusing on here. 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

I thoroughly enjoyed this essay. It makes a provocative connection between an early Christian mystic and a major postmodern text, and it does so in prose that it lively and well crafted. I particularly like the connection toward the end when the author attempts to rethink the metaphor of the war machine as a peace machine. What this shows is that the author is not merely making  a connection between two frames of thought that are rarely associated (mysticism and postmodernism), but is instead allowing that rare association to enrich the understand of each frame. Again, I enjoyed this essay very much and look forward to its publication. On the text of the essay itself, I have made few comments related to content, but I have noted some moments when formatting and punctuation need editing.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Reviewer 2 was very positive and did not ask for any changes, other than punctuation.  I was not sent the text with these punctuation changes marked.

Reviewer 3 Report

I think the article is good, it has a well-formed structure. The author is familiar with patristics and as well as the postmodern philosophy of nomad culture. However, I would still suggest revising the text due to slight textual ruptures. For example - line 490 - who is "they write"? and line 493 (MP?)  = Mille Plateaux?  Similarly, greek term epektasis once with italic, other time not. 

Author Response

Reviewer 3 asks me to define “they write (493) and correct the word epektasis, which sometimes has italics, and sometimes not.  I have made these corrections.