Religion: Rereading What Is Bound Together

216 Pages·2022·3.94 MB·English

by  Michel Serres

R E L I G I O N
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RELIGION
Rereading What Is Bound Together
M I C H E L S E R R E S
Translated by Malcolm DeBevoise
Stanford UniverSity PreSS
Stanford, California
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Stanford UniverSity PreSS
Stanford, California
English translation © 2022 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford
Junior University. All rights reserved.
Religion was originally published in French in 2019 under the title Relire le
relié, by Michel Serres © Editions Le Pommier/ Humensis, 2019
Translator’s Note © 2022 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford
Junior University. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the
prior written permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free, archival- quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Serres, Michel, author. | DeBevoise, M. B., translator.
Title: Religion : rereading what is bound together / Michel Serres ;
translated by Malcolm DeBevoise.
Other titles: Relire le relié. English
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2022. |
“Originally published in French in 2019 under the title Relire le
relié.” | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCn 2021050003 (print) | LCCn 2021050004 (ebook) |
iSBn 9781503628755 (cloth) | iSBn 9781503631496 (paperback) |
iSBn 9781503631502 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Religion—Philosophy. | Violence—Philosophy. |
Good and evil—Philosophy.
Classification: LCC BL51 .S469713 2022 (print) | LCC BL51 (ebook) |
ddC 210—dc23/eng/20211201
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021050003
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021050004
Cover design: Rob Ehle, Kevin Barrett Kane
Cover image: Vittore Carpaccio, St. Augustine in His Studio, 1502,
56" × 83", tempera on panel
Text design: Kevin Barrett Kane
Typeset at Stanford University Press in 11/15 itC Galliard Pro
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for Marie- LaUre DUrand,
a promise is a promise
with gratitude and affection
To Suzanne,
model of saintliness
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C O N T E N T S
A Note on the Translation ix
Preface xi
ChaPter 1 Vertical Binding 1
ChaPter 2 Horizontal Binding 75
ChaPter 3 The Problem of Evil 163
Index 193
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A N O T E O N T H E
T R A N S L AT I O N
Michel Serres was working as fast as he could in order
to deliver a finished manuscript, in the event only a day
before he died, and so did not have an opportunity to
correct page proof. The French edition, printed directly
from the files received from the author, is marred by in-
felicities of various kinds that no doubt he would have
wished to eliminate. In making an English translation, I
have made every effort to ensure that silent modifications
of the text, additions and subtractions alike, are consonant
not only with the sense and spirit of the French but also
with the thrust of Serres’s work as a whole, and especially
the attempts at synthesis over the last two decades. The
subject of this final book, religion, plainly preoccupied
him throughout his life.
I have streamlined the table of contents for the sake of
clarity and consistency, seeking to bring out the main theme
of each chapter. The various subsidiary themes— involving
the idea of hot spots, networks (or webs) of relations, false
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