The Book of God is an imaginative overview, sensitive to narrative detail and to stylistic nuance, of both Testaments. Josipovici sees how the Bible constitutes a unique kind of literature--a book, as he says, meant to change your sense of reality--which is nevertheless linked with certain later writers. He proposes surprising comparisons with Proust, Kafka and other modernists. Some biblical passages, he observes, "bring us face to face with characters who can be neither interpreted nor deconstructed. They are emblems of the limits of comprehension."I have yet to read any Josipovici (through lack of availability in this part of the hemisphere), but have already added three of his books to my TBR list. Hm...must do something about this the next time I head north.
(Incidentally, I would've added René Girard to that "top five" list. I've only read The Scapegoat, but I find his literary analysis of the Bible to be deeply engaging.)
2 comments:
For a fascinating read in Biblical interpretion that thankfully mentions neither Proust nor Kafka, I recommend, What Have They Done with Jesus?
Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History, by Ben Witherington III. It's a believer's point of view, for sure, but wonderfully argued in simple prose and not an exercise in erudite literary dilettantism as in Josipovici.
What's wrong with Proust or Kafka? I will look into your rec., but I think it's fascinating to look at the Bible as a work of literature. I take it you've read Josipovici's book--what characterizes it as "literary dilettantism"?
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