Subjectivity and divinity in biblical hermeneutics
In order to make a constructive claim of its own, this paper inspects the challenge frequently made in postmodern discourse that the theologian or literary-critic should „escape" the logocentric tradition of subjectivity and divinity in the West, thus engaging in a discourse no longer grounded...
Elmentve itt :
| Szerző: | |
|---|---|
| Dokumentumtípus: | Könyv része |
| Megjelent: |
1992
|
| Sorozat: | Acta Universitatis Szegediensis de Attila József nominatae : papers in english and american studies
4 Papers in English and American studies : Tomus IV. - Literary theory and biblical hermeneutics : proceedings of the International Conference: "Reading Scripture - Literary Criticism and Biblical Hermeneutics", Pannonhalma, 4-6 July, 1991 4 |
| Kulcsszavak: | Hermeneutika - bibliai |
| Tárgyszavak: | |
| Online Access: | http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/68649 |
| Tartalmi kivonat: | In order to make a constructive claim of its own, this paper inspects the challenge frequently made in postmodern discourse that the theologian or literary-critic should „escape" the logocentric tradition of subjectivity and divinity in the West, thus engaging in a discourse no longer grounded in „the good will" of hermeneutics but the eternal movement of „difference". What does this claim mean? To answer this, I inspect its rhetorical and dialectical dimensions. Rhetorically, the claim appeals to the principle of affirmation through negation (Heidegger, Jonas, Ricoeur), which has some plausibility. Dialectically, the thinking behind the claim is not up to the rhetorical task. Among other faults of reflection, it fails to distinguish the empirical will from the structure of freedom making possible that will to escape. The empirical will cannot escape the transcendental structure of freedom, which is itself the very heart of „logocentrism", any more than „I" can escape my „self". The paper argues that hermeneutics is not something that goes out of style, for understanding is not something that can be gone beyond. Moreover, understanding, both in its structural possibility and in its concrete realizations, is ineluctably borne through a cultural tradition. Participation in the tradition is the abiding condition of understanding. The tradition can be modified and transformed, it can wither and die out, but . it cannot be escaped. Indeed, the real situation is that the absolutes which necessarily manifest themselves within the logocentric tradition continue to escape us. These absolutes are the principles of absolute subjectivity and absolute being or divinity. How do they appear in biblical hermeneutics? The author draws on the biblical hermeneutics of Schleiermacher and Ricoeur in isolating three steps in the answer. First, „God is" appears to the understanding in the activity of reading texts, while preserving its own escape from texts into manifold existence as „I am". Second, the „I am" appears to the understanding in the activity of following existence, while preserving its own escape from existence into maifold texts as „God is". (The movements here from text to existence or existence to text are reciprocal and can equally well be reserved.) Third, „God is" and „I am" appear together in the activity of correlating text and existence. In conclusion, the paper argues that the theologian and literary critic ought to seek a self-understanding not in the effort to escape the tradition but in the affirmation of the reflexive principle by means of which we can understand the appearing and escaping of subjectivity and divinity from reflection. |
|---|---|
| Terjedelem/Fizikai jellemzők: | 3-17 |
| ISSN: | 0230-2780 |