The Christ under Reconstruction

From the Face to the Celestial Machine

Abstract

Starting in Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's critique of the image of the face of Christ, the article experimentally explores the notion of the cross-event as machine. Through an encounter between Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the abstract machine and Russian avant-garde artist and thinker Liubov Popova's notion of construction, the article explores the multiplicity rather than the singular identity of the Christ-notion; the ongoing creative aspect rather than the origin–telos spectrum. Thus, the article invites non-theological thinkers to throw new light on a theological dilemma: the exclusive and authoritarian aspects of the Christ figure. Finally, alternative images of Christ to be found in the history of Christianity are suggested.