BRADLEY H. MCLEAN
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About me (cv)

  • Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Knox College, Toronto School of Theology​
  • ​Cross-appointed to the Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto

Affiliation is for ID purposes only. 
​
My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
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ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4858-9769
Twitter: twitter.com/BHMcLean108

​Here is my abbreviated CV...

Current book in progress

Bradley H. McLean, Deleuze, Guattari and the Machine in Early Christianity: Schizoanalysis, Affect, and Multiplicity,
London/Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic (forthcoming in 2022).
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On the basis of a genealogical model, the discipline of theology traces Christianity backwards to a single point of origin, a transcendental signifier, Jesus Christ, Son of Expanding the impact of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's philosophy to the disciplines of Christian Origins and Christian theology, this original study makes the case for understanding early Christianity through such Deleuzioguattarian concepts as the 'rhizome', the 'machine', the 'body without organs' and the 'multiplicity', using the theoretical tool of schizoanalysis to do so.

The reconstruction of the historical emergence of early Christianity, Bradley H. McLean argues, has been constrained by traditional assumptions about its historical and transcendental origins. These assumptions are ill-suited to theorizing the genesis, change and transformation of early Christianity in the first three centuries of the Common Era. To capture the dynamism of early Christianity, McLean applies Guattari's concept of the 'machine', to the analysis of early Christianity. Arguing that machines are both an unnoticed dimension of early Christianity, and a major analytical tool for the discipline, McLean highlights the potential of the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari to challenge and reconfigure not just our knowledge of early Christianity, but all aspects of Hellenistic Judaism, and the Greco-Roman world, as well as our understanding of Jesus of Nazareth and the Jesus movement.

​By subverting the concept of a single transcendental or historical origin of Christianity, this book facilitates new forms of dialogue and cooperation between Christians and co-religionists.

Recent articles

18. Bradley H. McLean, “What Does A Thousand Plateaus Contribute to the Study of Early Christianity?,” Deleuze and Guattari Studies, 14/3 (2020), 533-53. (Click here for abstract)

17. Bradley H. McLean, “Deleuze’s Interpretation of Job as a Heroic Figure in the History of Rationality,” Religions, 10/3, 141 (2019), 1-8.​

16. Bradley H. McLean, “The Rationality of the Miracles of the Apostolic Women: Thekla, Drusiana, and Maximilla as Anti-Function,” Toronto Journal of Theology,  33, Supplement 1 (2017), 73-85.​

15. Bradley H. McLean, “The Rationality of Early Christian Discourse,” Toronto Journal of Theology, 30, Supplement 1 (2015), 43-65.
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14. B. H. McLean,“‘Dust’ and ‘Foam’: Sikong Tu’s Principle of ‘Subtle Reserve’ and Its Relevance for Contemporary Hermeneutic Praxis,” World Sinology, 13 (2013), 90-98.

13. B. H. McLean, “Lessons Learned from Swinburne: A Critique of Richard Swinburne’s Revelation: From Metaphor to Analogy,” Toronto Journal of Theology, 29/2 (2013), 369–88.

12. B. H. McLean, “The Crisis of Historicism and the Problem of Historical Meaning in New Testament Studies,” Heythrop Journal, 53/2 (2012), 217-40.

10. B. H. McLean, “The Exteriority of Biblical Meaning and the Plentitude of Desire: An Exploration of Deleuze’s Non-Metaphysical Hermeneutics of Kafka,” Neotestamentica, 43/1 (2008), 93-122.

9. B. H. McLean, “Re-Imagining New Testament Interpretation in terms of Deleuzian Geophilosophy,” Neotestamentica, 42/1 (2008), 51-71.


Recent book chapters 

10. B. H. McLean, “The Deleuzioguattarian Body of Christ without Organs,” in Matthew Whitlock, ed.,  Critical Theory and Early Christianity: Walter Benjamin, Gilles Deleuze, Alain Badiou, and Judith Butler, Studies in Ancient Religion and Culture, Sheffield: Equinox, 2020, in press.

9. B. H. McLean, “Abraham as a Deleuzian Hero of Repetition: The Rationality of the Akedah,” in Heiko Shulz, Jean-Pierre Fortin, A Cruel God? The Binding of Isaac: A Challenge for the Rationality of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2020, in press.

8. B. H. McLean, “The Rationality of Prophetic Truth-Speaking and Deleuze’s Passional Postsignifying Regime of Signs,” in Heiko Schultz, ed., Prophecy and Rationality, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020, in press.​

7. B. H. McLean, “The Hermeneutics of Translating Christian Theology for the Evangelization of Chinese School Children in Late Imperial China,” in David Jasper ed., Constructions of East and West: Translating Chinese Texts: Translating English Texts, 113-135, Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2015.
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Books

7. B. H. McLean, Hellenistic and Biblical Greek: A Graduated Reader, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. (509 pages with online supplement).​

6. B. H. McLean, Biblical Interpretation and Philosophical Hermeneutics, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. (320 pages)

5. B. H. McLean, New Testament Greek: An Introduction, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. (266 pages with online workbook and audio files)
 
4. B. H. McLean, Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the Konya Archaeological Museum, Regional Epigraphic Catalogues of Asia Minor, British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Monograph 39, BAR International Series, 2002.

3. B. H. McLean, An Introduction to the Study of Greek Epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods from Alexander the Great down to the Reign of Constantine (323 BCE-337 CE), Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2002.

2. B. H. McLean, The Cursed Christ: Mediterranean Expulsion Rituals and Pauline Soteriology, JSNT Suppl 126, Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1996.

1. B. H. McLean, Citations and Allusions to Jewish Scripture in Early Christian and Jewish Writings through 180 C.E., Lewistown: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.

Recent editorial work

4. B. H. McLean, Guest Editor, ​“A Thousand Plateaus Turns Forty,” Deleuze & Guattari Studies, 14/3 (2020), in press. (9 articles)

3. B. H. McLean, Guest Editor, “The Book of Job: A Challenge for the Rationality of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” Religions, 10/3 (2019). (7 articles)
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Invited lectures

​15. B. H. McLean, ​​“Response to Gerhard Schreiber and Yiftach Fehige,” to be presented at an international workshop on "Transitory Theology and Human Sexuality,” at The Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, November, 2020.

14. B. H. McLean, ​“Eve’s Felix Culpa and the Deleuze's Three Errors of Desire: Falling into, and Falling Out of, Rationality,” to be presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion, Bad Homburg, Germany, November 2020.
 
13. B. H. McLean, “Abraham as a Deleuzian Hero of Repetition: The Rationality of Repetition,” ​presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion, Bad Homburg, Germany, Nov. 2019.
 
12. B. H. McLean, “The Rationality of Job's Friends: A Failure of Rationality,” ​presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion, Bad Homburg, Germany, November 2018.
 
11. B. H. McLean, “The Formal Rationality of Prophetic Discourse and Deleuze’s Postsignifying Regime of Signs,” presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion at the Goethe University, Frankfurt, November 2017.
 
10. B. H. McLean, “Revelation as Diagrammatization and the End of the Imperial Despotic Machine,” presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion at the Goethe University, Frankfurt, November 2016.
 
9. B. H. McLean, “The Rationality of the Miracles of the Apostolic Women,” presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion held at the Goethe University, Frankfurt, November 2014.

8. B. H. McLean, “Translating Christian Theology in Late Imperial China: A Study of Walter Medhurst’s ‘Three-character Classic’ and Sophia Martin’s ‘Three-character Classic for the Instruction of Young Ladies’,” presented at Constructions of East and West Translating Chinese Texts, Translating English Texts, Renmin University of China, Beijing, March 2014.
 
7. B. H. McLean, “The Rationality of Early Christian Discourse,” presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion at the Goethe University, Frankfurt, November 2013.
 
6. B. H. McLean, “Analytic Philosophy and the Bible: A Critique of Richard Swinburne’s Revelation: From Metaphor to Analogy,” presented at the Symposium on Rationality & Religion at The University of Toronto, in collaboration with the Goethe University, Frankfurt, November 2012.

5. B. H. McLean, “‘Dust’ and ‘Foam’: Sikong Tu’s Principle of Subtle Reserve and Its Relevance for Contemporary Hermeneutic Praxis,” presented at theWorld Conference on Sinology, Beijing, November 2012.

4. B. H. McLean, “New Trends in Online Theological Education: Successes and Challenges for the Future,” presented at Education for New Times: Revisiting Pedagogical Models in the Jesuit Tradition, Macau Ricci Institute, Macau,  November 2009.

3. B. H. McLean, “The Exteriority of Biblical Meaning and the Plentitude of Desire: An Exploration of Deleuze’s Non-Metaphysical Hermeneutics of Kafka,” at The Summer Institute, Renmin University, China, November 2008.
 
2. B. H. McLean, “Biblical Hermeneutics in the ‘Face of the Other’: Exploring an ethics of interpretation after Heidegger, Derrida and Levinas,” presented at The Ethical Turn? The Humanities - Assuming New Responsibility, Stein, Germany, 3 October 2007.

​1. B. H. McLean, “Interpreting the Bible as a Rhizome: Re-imagining the Practice of Biblical Hermeneutics in Light of Deleuze and Guattari’s Geophilosophy,” presented atTheological Aesthetics, Xiangfan University, Hubei Province, China, September 2006.
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Conference presentations

23. B. H. McLean, ​“Yael Navaro-Yashin’s Metaphor of Disciplinary Ruination and the Rejuvenation of the Discipline of Christian Origins,” to be presented at the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, London, Ontario, in May 2021. 

22. B. H. McLean, “The Semiology of Louw and Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon and the Semiotic Theory of Louis Hjelmslev,
” presented at the annual meeting of Society of New Testament Studies, Athens, August 2018.

21. B. H. McLean, “‘Dust’ and ‘Foam’: Sikong Tu’s Principle of ‘Subtle Reserve’ and Its Relevance for Contemporary Hermeneutic Praxis,” presented at The World Conference on Sinology, Renmin University, China, October 2012.

20. B. H. McLean, “The Function of the Foundation Inscriptions of Voluntary Religions Associations in Antiquity
,” presented at the annual meeting of The Society of Biblical Literature, San Francisco, November 2011.

19. B. H. McLean, “Using Foucault’s Critical Frameworks in the Teaching of Extra-canonical Sources,” presented at the annual meeting of The Society of Biblical Literature, San Francisco, November 2011.

18. B. H. McLean, “The Exteriority of Biblical Meaning and the Plentitude of Desire: An Exploration of Deleuze’s Non-Metaphysical Hermeneutics of Kafka,” presented at the annual meeting of The American Academy of Religion, Montreal, November 2009.

17. B. H. McLean, “The Crisis of Historicism and the Problem of Historical Meaning in New Testament Studies,” presented at the annual meeting of The Society of New Testament Studies, Vienna, August 2009.

16.
B. H. McLean, “On the Meaning of Early Christian History: The Crisis of Historicism and the Phenomenological Response,” presented at the annual meeting of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, Sibiu, Romania, August 2007.

15.
B. H. McLean, “The Problem of Hermeneutics,” presented at the annual meeting of The Society of New Testament Studies, Aberdeen, Scotland, July 2006.

14.
B. H. McLean, “Do Classical Texts have an Enunciative Function? The Classical Text from a Foucautian Poststructuralism Perspective,” presented at the annual meeting of American Philological Association, Boston, January 2005.

13.
B. H. McLean, “Reading the Rocks: The Use of Inscriptions for New Testament Research.” presented at the annual meeting of Annual meeting of the Society of New Testament Studies, Montreal, August 2000.

12.
B. H. McLean, “The Social and Religious Context of the Galatian Churches: An Epigraphical Study,” presented at the annual meeting of The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Edmonton, May 2000.

11.
B. H. McLean, “Hierarchically Organised Associations on Delos,” presented at the annual meeting of the XIth International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy, Rome, September 1997.

10.
B. H. McLean, “The Inscriptions of Caesarea and Their Relation to the Physical Remains of the City,” presented at the annual meeting of The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies in Montreal, June 1995.

9.
B. H. McLean, “Phrygian and Lydian Trade Guilds and the Foundation of Local Christian  Communities: An Epigraphical Study,”  presented at the Archaeology and the New Testament World Group, at the annual meeting of The Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago, November 1994.

8.
B. H. McLean, “Pluralism and the Voluntary Associations of Delos,” presented at the annual meeting of  The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Calgary, June 1994.

7.
B. H. McLean, “The Agrippinilla Inscription: Religious Associations and Early Church Formation,” presented at the annual meeting of The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Ottawa, June 1993.

6.
B. H. McLean, “Christ as a Pharmakos Victim in Pauline Soteriology,” presented at the Roman Religions Group at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Kansas City, November 1991.

5.
B. H. McLean, “Woes Against the Pharisees (Luke 11:39b-44),” presented at the annual meeting of  The International Q Project, at the Claremont Graduate School: Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont (CA), July 1991.

4.
B. H. McLean, “Scapeman and Scapebeast Soteriology in Gal 3:13,” presented at the annual meeting of The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Kingston (ON), May 1991.

3.
B. H. McLean, "Analysis and Reconstruction of Luke 14:5/Matt 12:11”; Q text reconstruction presented to the International Q Project.  presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, New Orleans, November 1990.

2.
B. H. McLean, "The Absence of an Atoning Sacrifice in Paul’s Soteriology,” presented at the annual meeting of  annual meeting of The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Victoria, British Columbia, May 1990.

1.
B. H. McLean, “The Significance of Hatta’t Sacrifice,” presented at the annual meeting of The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Laval, Quebec, May 1989.

Academic Society Memberships

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  • Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas
  • American Academy of Religion
  • Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (member organisation of The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1.      The Rise of the Christ Machines

2.     Desiring Production and Early Christianities

3.      Multiplicities and the Virtual Dimension of Christ Groups

4.      The Autoproduction of a Body of Christ without Organs  

5.      Territorializations and Deterritorializations: On Becoming Outlandish

6.      Deterritorialization in the Gospels: A Typology of Lines

7.      The Stratification of Christ Groups in the Despotic Socius

8.      Christ Groups as Social Assemblages and Abstract Machines

9.      The God of Religion and the Schizo God

10.   The Myth of Eve: Falling Into, and Out of, Delusion

11.   On Several Regimes of Signs and Several Christs

12.   The Despotic Christ and the Signifying Despotic Regime of Signs

13.   The Passional Christ and the Passional Subjective Regime of Signs

14.   What Can a Body Do?

15.   Molecular Becomings of Christ: Becoming-woman

16.   Christ Becoming-animal: An Affair of Sorcery

17.   Christ’s Becomings-imperceptible: Martyrological, Magical, and Cosmic

18.   The Nomad Jesus and the Galilean War Machine

Conclusion


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