Philosophy of Belonging

James Greenaway is the San José-Lonergan Chair in Catholic Philosophy at St. Mary's University. He is the author of The Differentiation of Authority: The Medieval Turn Toward Existence.

"At last, the theme of belonging has its philosophical champion. James Greenaway explores the topic of human belonging on a scale appropriate to its existential importance, ranging from the intimate issue of how one belongs to oneself to the comprehensive issue of how we belong to the cosmos. Greenaway's book brings a rare nobility of reflection to political philosophy." —Glenn Hughes, author of From Dickinson to Dylan"James Greenaway's A Philosophy of Belonging not only brings together a wide range of sometimes contrasting thinkers, but provides the reader with an interpretative vision successfully uniting philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, politics and history. Academics and graduate students alike will never see their topics in quite the same way again." —Brendan Purcell, author of Where is God in Suffering?"In an age of social media isolation and "bowling alone," A Philosophy of Belonging is a welcome antidote to our condition of alienation, angst, and solipsism. A book not only for today but for anytime, it proposes a pathway out of our condition of nihilism, despair, and the absurd." —Lee Trepanier, author of Eric Voegelin's Asian Political Thought"James Greenaway's A Philosophy of Belonging is a major philosophical achievement." —Barry Cooper, author of Paleolithic Politics"Greenaway's philosophy of belonging lays the philosophical foundation for a new approach that is really an old approach. It is an honest engagement with the limits of philosophy that shows that politics ought to have its limits, too. We are, in the end, enfolded by mystery; this results in a tension which can only be ignored at our own peril." —VoegelinView

• Introduction1. Philosophy and Belonging2. A Hermeneutic of BelongingPresence3. Of the Cosmos4. By Way of Consciousness and the Flesh5. In LoveCommunion6. Communitas7. Political Goods, Political Communitas8. SacramentalityEpilogue: Unbelonging: The Refusal of Presence and Communion