The oikonomia in epistles of Paul: notes on Agamben’s “hermeneutics”

Abstract

Accompanying the genealogy of the theological concept of oikonomia, which Giorgio Agamben offers in The Kingdom and the Glory, the article proposes a rereading of passages in which the Apostle Paul, in his letters to the churches, uses this Greek term. This rereading essentially confirms the general proposition of Agamben that the understanding of oikonomia as “management” of men and things does not seem to have suffered significant semantic changes in Paul's writings and in the language current among Christians of the second century. However, this rileggere ultimately indicates no insignificant weaknesses in The Kingdom and the Glory, which can be found both by a not-specialized reader and by scholars in philosophy, theology and political economy. These notes on Agamben’s work also attempt to establish a dialogue with other texts recently published in Brazil about him, the Italian philosopher.