Challenging Mainstream Metaphysics – Barad’s Agential Realism and Feminist Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

The article outlines the impact of Barad’s thinking on our understanding of reality, being and becoming at large, and demonstrates the relevance of her agential realism for feminist philosophy of religion. Barad’s agential realism is presented as the cornerstone of a relationalist metaphysics, challenging the mainstream masculine metaphysics of separateness. Agential realism is also applied as a fruitful perspective for an alternative understanding of religion, and as an important and solid theoretical perspective for the further development of feminist philosophy of religion. The latter claim is substantiated through a discussion of Pamela Sue Anderson’s and Grace Jantzen’s feminist philosophies of religion, showing how they can benefit from and find support in Barad’s ontoepistemological metaphysics.