Of a Ghost and Its Resurrection: María Zambrano on the Agony of Europe

Abstract

In La Agonia de Europa, María Zambrano writes: “Europe is not dead, Europe cannot die completely; it agonizes. For Europe is perhaps the only thing—in history—that cannot die; it is the only thing capable of resurrection.” How to understand this provocative statement? What must Europe be for it not being able to completely die, but only to agonize? How to understand the mode of being Europe as one of continuous agonization? What kind of resurrection does European life refer to, and what is its significance in the context of Zambrano’s heretical Christianity? These are among the questions raised in the paper.