Carnality and Difference Plotinus, the philosopher of our times,
seemed ashamed of being in the body. As a result of this state
of mind he could never bear to talk about his race or his
parents or his native country. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus
Traditionally, group identity has been constructed in two ways:
as the product of either a common genealogical origin or a
common geographical origin. The first type of figuring has a
strongly pejoratized value in current writing, having become
tainted with the name “race” and thus racism, while the second
is referred to by the positive, even progressive-sounding,
“self-determination”—in spite of the evident fact that either or
both of these discourses can equally be used to justify acts of
enormous violence. The negative evaluation of genealogy as a
ground for identity can be traced to Paul, the fountainhead, as
I am claiming, of western universalism. In his authentic passion
to find a place for the gentiles in the Torah's scheme of things
and the brilliance of the rad