Agencement and Agency: If Gilles and Félix had met Stanley

Abstract

The concept of the assemblage set out in Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus is brought into dialogue with the notion of ethical agency found in the writings of Stanley Hauerwas. The discussion is structured around the process of the agent's narrative formation. Elements of complexity theory, in particular emergence, are adduced in order to explicate the points of difference between Deleuze and Guattari and Hauerwas, as are the contributions of those like Manuel DeLanda who have sought to further develop Deleuzean‐Guattarian ideas. The conclusion proposes disciple and Church as emergent forms structured by the Christ‐event conceived as an abstract machine.