I read a translation of this essay by D. Kishik and S.Pedatella.
Agamben uses Foucault's concept of 'apparatus' to classify all beings into two groups: living beings and apparatuses in which living beings are incessantly captures.
These two denote an ontology of creatures on one hand, and an oikonomia of apparatuses (which seemt govern creatures) on the other. Between these two classes lies a 3rd: subjects. These result from the relation between living creatures and apparatuses.
Apparatuses are not an accident; they are rooted in humanisation. They are instruments of governance and subjectification. The apparatus therefore produces its own subject. It separates us from our environment. This separation is religion.
Agamben goes on to say we can resist subjectification and therefore apparatuses only through profanation.
I think I need to research Foucault's theories to properly understand this essay but it was an interesting and challenging read.
humanisation - the act of making something more human
oikonomia - (oikos = Greek 'home' or hearth, signifies administration/management of the house)
Fathers of the Church adopted the term into theological discourse to explain the Trinity to 'monarchies' (people who wanted only one god) in a way that would appeal to them.
ontology - a branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being/existence
profanation - blasphemous behaviour, degradation of something worthy of respect, desecration
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