Kristof K. P. Vanhoutte

Writings

Article

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Model Failure.

The implications of the ’classical’ as a paradigmatic concept

Vita pensata, n. 32, maggio - Classico I · Published: 2025 · p. 108-119

Article

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Behind the Derridas and Foucaults, There Is Absolutely Nobody

The Faculty Lounge, March · Published: 2023

Article

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American French-ness

The American Appropriation of Contemporary French Philosophy

dePICTions, vol. 2 · Published: 2022

Article

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Written by Clowns … Supervised by Monkeys.

A Critique of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Concilium: International Journal of Theology, Vol. 389, February · Published: 2021 · p. 143-148

Article

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The Gentle Art of Making “Un-Decisions”

dePICTions, vol. 1 · Published: 2021

Article

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Towards a Theory of Crisis

A Thought in Progress with Raymond Williams

Coils of the Serpent. Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power (Special Issue: Beyond Crisis: Raymond Williams and the Present Conjuncture), Issue 9 · Published: 2021 · p. 11-26

Article

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The revenge of the words

On language’s historical and autonomous being and its effects on ‘secularisation’

HTS Theological Studies / Teologiese Studies (Special Issue: Christianity as a Change Agent in the 4th Industrial Revolution World), Vol 76, No 2 · Published: 2020 · p. 1-9

Article

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A Heretical Tale about Heresy

Or why Words do Matter

HTS Theological Studies / Teologiese Studies (Special Issue: Eben Scheffler Festschrift), Vol 75, No 3 · Published: 2019 · p. 1-8

Article

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Modernity is Back

Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 50, No. 14, November · Published: 2018 · p. 1314-1315

Article

La minorità ‘oltre-storica’

L’eredità Francescana secondo Michel Foucault,

Frate Francesco, vol. 83, n. 1 · Published: 2017 · p. 85-98

Article

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A Community of the Question

On Philosophical Friends and Foes

Comparative and Continental Philosophy, vol. 9, Issue 1 · Published: 2017 · p. 5-21

Article

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Chi ha paura della filosofia contemporanea continentale?

Per una prospettiva di dialogo con il francescanesimo

Antonianum, Annus XC, Fasc. 1, Ianuarius – Martius · Published: 2015 · p. 125-143

Article

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“Oh God! What a Lovely War!”

Giorgio Agamben and the theory of total civil war

Russian Sociological Review (Special Issue: State of War: Human Condition and Social Orders), Vol. 14, nr. 4, December · Published: 2015 · p. 28-43

Article

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And the Word once more Turned into Flesh

Or on the various ‘theological turns’ in contemporary continental philosophy

Celš, vol. 65 · Published: 2015 · p. 156-176

Article

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Bartleby the example and Eros the Idea of the Work

Some considerations on Giorgio Agamben’s ‘The Idea of Study’

Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 46, No. 4, March · Published: 2014 · p. 393-405

Article

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The future starts in the past.

The loss of the Spiritual Centre of the University

European Journal of Education, Vol. 49, Issue 3, September · Published: 2014 · p. 409-420

Article

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Only the country of the blind will have a king.

On Žižek’s non-lucid reading of Saramago’s Essay on Lucidity [Seeing]

International Journal of Žižek Studies, Vol. 7, No. 4 · Published: 2013 · p. 1-14

Article

Is secularization cause of the ‘crisis’ of the university?

REA: A Journal of Religion, Education and the Arts, Issue 7 · Published: 2011 · p. 1-12

Article

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Philosophy as the in-between

Inquiry - An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 54, No. 4, August · Published: 2011 · p. 398-409

Article

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Towards a New Understanding of the Crisis in the Humanities

Divyadaan. Journal of Philosophy & Education, vol. 21, No. 1 · Published: 2010 · p. 115-128

Article

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Job: a Christian Sisyphus?

Humor and the Triumph of Human Experience

Stylistyka, XIX · Published: 2010 · p. 263-277

Lectures

Podcasts

Dates with Death with Annik Wüthrich

06-04-2022

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In this episode of Dates with Death, Kristof K.P. Vanhoutte is joined by Dr. Annik Wüthrich, an Egyptologist working at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, to explore ancient Egyptian approaches to death, the afterlife, and the moralization of the beyond. Wüthrich opens by explaining that her interest is not in death itself, but in how humans manage the passage from life to death and the rituals, beliefs, and knowledge created to ensure survival beyond death. She recounts her early fascination with the construction of the Cheops Pyramid, which gradually evolved into a focus on the ways the Egyptians conceptualized eternity. For the ancient Egyptians, she notes, death was pervasive but never gloomy; it was intimately linked with life and continuity, and almost all surviving texts, monuments, and artifacts reflect the desire to preserve identity, dignity, and social bonds in the afterlife.

The discussion emphasizes that understanding ancient Egyptian death practices requires rejecting modern Western biases, which often interpret these cultures through Christian frameworks. Wüthrich highlights the complex Egyptian conception of the person, composed of multiple elements such as the ba (roughly the mobile soul), the ka (double vital force and moral essence), the name, and the shadow. Mummification and funerary rituals were designed not merely to preserve the body, but to reunite these components, ensuring the deceased could continue to exist, interact, and even enjoy life in the afterworld. The afterlife, represented in texts like the Book of the Dead, was conceived as a continuation or idealized reflection of earthly life, where the deceased could plough fields, enjoy pleasures, and maintain social relations. Death, however, also carried risks: neglect of the funerary cult or destruction of the tomb could result in the so-called “second death,” a permanent rupture from both the living community and the divine order.

Wüthrich further explains that the Egyptian afterlife was morally structured through the principle of ma’at, representing cosmic and social order, justice, and truth. Deeds in life needed to conform to this principle to pass the judgment before Osiris, often represented in the “Weighing of the Heart” ritual. The Book of the Dead was a central guide to navigating these spiritual and practical challenges, containing spells, hymns, and instructions for preserving the body, warding off dangers, and maintaining social and divine connections. While the texts could appear formulaic, the ethical and ritual investment required – along with the ongoing funerary cult – meant that survival in the afterlife was never guaranteed and depended on both preparation and continued remembrance by the living. Wüthrich emphasizes that the preparation and knowledge embedded in these texts reflect a profound engagement with life, ethics, and social bonds, rather than fear or obsession with death itself.

The conversation also addresses social stratification, noting that most surviving evidence comes from elites, while the experiences of ordinary Egyptians are harder to reconstruct. Excavations suggest that non-elite burials were simpler, with natural preservation often substituting for elaborate mummification, but the fundamental beliefs and symbolic practices were shared. Finally, Wüthrich explores the monumental and textual nature of Egyptian funerary culture: tombs, mastabas, pyramids, and valley tombs served both as eternal homes and as interfaces between the living and the dead, with inscriptions, hieroglyphs, and texts functioning performatively to preserve memory and transmit essential knowledge. Even though the afterlife could be depicted as idealized or fantastical, it was never entirely divorced from ethical conduct, social integration, or the lived experience of the deceased.

Throughout the episode, Wüthrich weaves together historical, textual, and archaeological insights to convey a nuanced vision of ancient Egyptian death as a continuation of life, embedded in moral and social frameworks. Death is acknowledged as unavoidable and a potential rupture, but the careful preparation of tombs, rituals, and texts allowed the Egyptians to envision an afterlife where life, community, and identity endured – an approach that emphasizes continuity, ethical responsibility, and the transformative power of human knowledge and action in the face of mortality.

Dates with Death with Charles King

04-04-2022

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In this episode of Dates with Death, Kristof K.P. Vanhoutte is joined by Professor Charles W. King, a specialist in Roman history and religion, to explore Roman concepts of death, the afterlife, and the cult of the dead. King begins by explaining his interest in Roman death as arising from both methodological and thematic considerations: the challenge of reconstructing Roman religious practice from fragmented sources, and the broader curiosity about how different societies conceptualize death differently from modern Western assumptions. He notes that studying Roman paganism requires a “competitive plausibility” approach, building models from scattered evidence rather than relying on coherent theological texts, which drew him to the subject for his dissertation and ultimately his career.

King then contrasts traditional scholarship on Roman afterlife with his own work. Conventional accounts often emphasize Greek influence, focusing on underworld imagery, posthumous judgment, and notions like Tartarus and Elysium. These frameworks tend to treat Roman death as a storage problem - where do the dead go - rather than an ongoing interaction between the living and the dead. King argues that this perspective neglects the indigenous Roman tradition of deifying the dead, which extended beyond emperors to ordinary citizens. The Romans worshipped the dead as gods, or Manes, through funerary rituals, domestic shrines, and annual festivals like Parentalia. Tombstones frequently invoke the Manes, indicating the enduring significance of these deities. The Manes were believed to possess real powers, including extending life, protecting the living, witnessing oaths, and influencing outcomes. Worship of the dead was deeply tied to family loyalty, inheritance, and pietas, creating a system that was both relational and democratic.

Not all interactions with the dead were benevolent, however. King highlights the distinction between Manes and Larvae, unrecognized spirits who could be hostile or dangerous, potentially causing madness or death. Rituals like the Lemuria were designed to manage these restless spirits, illustrating a continuum of engagement with the dead, from protective and reciprocal to threatening. These practices underscore the porous boundary between life, death, and divinity in Roman thought.

A central theme of King’s analysis is the interplay of belief and practice in Roman religion. Unlike Christianity, Roman religion emphasized orthopraxy - correct ritual practice - over orthodoxy or rigid creeds. Beliefs could coexist in “clusters,” with overlapping variations anchored in core ideas such as the existence of the dead and their ability to intervene. This model allows for diverse interpretations of the Manes, Larvae, and afterlife without requiring enforced doctrinal conformity. Rituals themselves became the focal point for negotiating these beliefs, providing structure and shared identity even amid significant variation.

King also critiques modern scholars’ tendency to deny that Romans truly “believed” in their myths or the afterlife, pointing out that much of this stems from applying Christianized definitions of belief to non-Christian societies. He argues for a broader understanding, where belief is measured by confidence in certain truths rather than adherence to creedal formulas, allowing for the rich, varied, and relational practices surrounding death in Rome to be properly appreciated.

Ultimately, the episode reframes Roman death as an active, relational process. The dead were present, powerful, and engaged with the living, and Roman rituals structured these interactions while accommodating a diversity of beliefs. The discussion challenges longstanding assumptions about secularism, Greek influence, and the afterlife in Roman culture, emphasizing a sophisticated system in which the living and dead coexist in mutually sustaining and occasionally dangerous ways.

Dates with Death with Sarah Iles Johnston

22-11-2021

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In this episode of Dates with Death, Kristof K.P. Vanhoutte is joined by Professor Sarah Iles Johnston, a classicist specializing in ancient Greece and a distinguished professor of religion at Ohio State University, to discuss Greek understandings of death and the afterlife. Johnston begins by reflecting on her personal trajectory into the study of death, noting that her fascination with ghost stories and supernatural tales began in childhood, drawn by questions of the rules governing life and the afterlife. Her scholarly focus, she explains, was catalyzed by a personal crisis when her second son became gravely ill, prompting her to investigate how ancient societies coped with infant mortality and death more broadly. This personal context frames her broader inquiry into Greek conceptions of death, emphasizing that interest in the topic often emerges from a combination of curiosity, existential reflection, and lived experience.

Johnston outlines the basic contours of Greek beliefs about the afterlife, noting that early Greek thought did not feature a sharply dualistic division between reward and punishment as in Christian heaven and hell. Most souls were thought to enter a shadowy, dull realm called Hades, largely forgetful and uneventful, although the Greeks gradually developed ideas of posthumous justice, particularly for those who committed violent or morally transgressive acts. She describes the development of mystery cults, such as those of Demeter and Persephone or Dionysus, which promised a more pleasant afterlife to adherents, illustrating the evolving complexity of Greek conceptions of death. Johnston emphasizes the profound porosity of boundaries between the living and the dead, which could be navigated both directly, through offerings and rituals at gravesites, or indirectly, via experts or magicians capable of summoning the restless dead.

A significant focus of the conversation is on the “restless dead,” a category that includes those who die prematurely, violently, or without proper burial, and who could return to the living as potentially malevolent forces. These spirits could disrupt the living in varied ways, from causing madness or illness to interfering with childbirth, and certain liminal spaces such as crossroads or thresholds were consistently thought to facilitate their appearance. Johnston notes the remarkable cross-cultural consistency of these beliefs, observing parallels in ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and even 19th-century Polish rural communities. She connects these beliefs to broader social values, demonstrating that the qualities prized in life - such as producing children for women or achieving glory for men - shaped expectations of the afterlife, and that failure to meet these standards could render the dead restless.

Johnston also situates Greek ghost stories within a long literary tradition, highlighting both canonical texts like the Odyssey and the Oresteia and local anecdotal traditions. In these stories, ghosts often serve as agents of justice or as reminders of social obligations, and their return reinforces cultural norms. She contrasts these narratives with modern ghost stories, which, unlike ancient ones, often challenge religious beliefs rather than confirming them, while noting the persistence of motifs such as haunted houses, chains, and liminal spaces.
Throughout the discussion, Johnston emphasizes that ideas about death reflect ideas about life. Understanding the dead in ancient Greece reveals what was valued, feared, and expected in the living world. By examining historical attitudes toward death, contemporary audiences can gain insight into human concerns that persist across time, including social obligations, family structures, and cultural anxieties. Studying Greek death practices, Johnston argues, not only illuminates the past but also acts as a mirror, prompting reflection on modern assumptions about mortality, ethics, and the human condition.

The episode concludes with the idea that engagement with the history of death can inspire self-reflection and a deeper awareness of life, underscoring the enduring relevance of studying past cultures to understand our own.