What can a playing body?

Abstract

This article brings together the reflections of Michel Henry and Rubem Alves, having the body as an element in common, aiming to develop a theology of play. The development takes place from the observation of the body and play as epistemological principles in the theological work of Rubem Alves and the association of this analysis with the paradigm of incarnation in Michel Henry’s Phenomenology of Life. It is found that the game becomes an end in itself, questioning the modern productivist logic, guided by production and consumption, in addition to the institutional and epistemological calcifications and cages of theology. In this way, Alves’ observations approach the Henryan critique of exteriority and his affirmation of life as pure immanence, enabling the Phenomenology of Life to contribute to the connection of the word that frees with the word that plays.