The Family of Crossing Points: On Communion, Relation, and the Monad Among Monads
Abstract
This essay extends the topology developed in The Monad That Receives and Legion of Monads by asking whether plurality creates a higher-order subject. Using the family as its principal example, it argues that no created community possesses a single crossing point above its members. Birth therefore introduces not the addition of parts to a collective substance, but the emergence of a new monad alongside the integration of new relations within existing monads. The essay distinguishes communion from fusion, showing that genuine unity does not require the collapse of personal identity into a larger whole. This framework is then applied to ecclesiology, arguing that the Church's unity cannot be explained as a created super-monad but only through the uncreated Head, Jesus Christ. In doing so, the essay offers a metaphysical account of relation that preserves both individual integrity and authentic communion while distinguishing created societies from the Mystical Body of Christ.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Karl Barth and Christian Theology
Catholicism and Religious Studies
Christian Theology and Mission
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Publication date
- 19 July 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint