Of Ethics and God: To What Extent Is Simone Weil a Christian Thinker?
Kathryn Lawson
Philosophical Investigations September 24, 2026 DOI: 10.1111/phin.70038 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Weil adapts core Christian doctrines, including Creation and Resurrection, through her own phenomenological experience, making her status as a properly Christian thinker questionable. The author contends that Weil's adaptations prioritize ethical action in the natural world while preserving a supernatural layer of divine love experienced through divine absence. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT Simone Weil both embraces and fundamentally alters Christian doctrine to suit her own phenomenological experience of the world. Three major issues to consider in reading Weil as a ‘Christian thinker’ are divine Creation, Christ's Resurrection, and mysticism or the possibility of an embodied union with the divine. This essay will examine all three and ultimately argue that, for Weil, Christianity is foremost among a number of sources that she filters and adapts through her own phenomenological experience of the world. These adaptations forefront ethical action in the natural world but are buoyed by a background of supernatural divine love through divine absence. The fundamental Christian dogmas of Creation and Resurrection are altered to such an extent that it is questionable whether Weil should be read as properly Christian. However, her deep engagement with Christian thought suggests a radically altered, Christian‐inspired supernatural layer of human life. At times Christian, at times Platonic, this supernatural layer offers a possibility for rich Christian engagement in her thought, despite her fundamental differences from Christianity.