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The Impotence of the Word: The God Who Has Said It All

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Rémi Brague
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The power of the word should be at its height when the spoken word is deemed authoritative, when speech is the master of discourse. This authority can be no greater than when the word derives from what the Greeks called “the more powerful (than us),” (hoi kreittones) or even, in monotheistic religions, from He who can be called – to use a term that avoids confusion – “the Almighty.” The mighty word is the divine word. The power of this word is a result of its divine origin.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 43 , Issue 170 , June 1995 , pp. 43 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

Notes

1. Janicaud, D. La Puissance du rationnel, Paris, 1985.

2. Cf. the recent synthesis of C. Marramao, in the article, "Säkularisation." His torisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie, vol. 8, 1992, col. 1133-1161.

3. Gottesfinsternis (1952), in Werke, Munich-Heidelberg, 1963, vol. 1, pp. 505-603.

4. Heidegger, M. "Die Zeit des Weltbildes," in Holzwege, Frankfurt, 1950, p. 70.

5. San Juan de La Cruz. Obras Completas, (ed) Licinio Ruano de la Iglesia, 12th edi tion, Madrid, 1989.

6. H.U. von Balthasar, La gloire et la croix. Les aspects esthétiques de la Révélation. II. Styles. de Jean de la Croix à Péguy, Paris, 1972, p. 60.

7. I was unable to locate very much secondary literature to help me in an area that I am just beginning to explore. G. Morel, Le sens de l'existence selon Saint Jean de la Croix, Paris, 1965, vol. 2, p. 186 passes over it very rapidly. Some very accurate observations are made in J. Baruzi, Saint Jean de la Croix et le problème de l'expérience mystique, Paris, 1924, p. 526.

8. Cf. Z. Werblowski, "On the mystical rejection of mystical illuminations. A note on the non-cognitive mysticism of St John of the Cross," lyyun 14 (1963), 205-212.

9. Cf. Jehuda Halevi, Kuzari, 1, p. 86

10. E. Auerbach, "Sacrae scripturae sermo humilis" in Gesammelte Aufsätze zur roman ischen Philologie. Berne Munich, 1967, pp. 21-26.

11. Le Désenchantment du monde. Une histoire politique de la religion, Paris, 1985.

12. Vorlesungen iiber die Philosophie der Religion, in Sämtliche Werke, Jubiläumsausgabe. H. Glockner (ed.) Stuttgart, 1928, vol. 15, p. 99.

13. On this expression, cf. C. Colpe, Das Siegel der Propheten: historische Bexiehungen zwischen Judentum, Judenchristentum, Heidentum und friihem Islam, Berlin, 1990. Also, G. Stroumsa. "Le sceau des prophètes: la nature d'une metaphore manichéenne," in Savoir et salut, Paris, 1992, pp. 275-288.

14. Cf. al-Biruni, The Chronology of Ancient Nations, trans. and edited by C. Edward Sachau, Frankfurt, 1969, p. 190.

15. Cf. Y. Friedmann, "Finality of Prophethood in Sunni Islam," Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 7 (1986), 177-215.

16. References in A.J. Wensinck, et. al. Concordance et indices de la tradition musul mane. Leyden, vol. VI (1967), pp. 88b-89a, and notably Muslim. Livre 43 (fada'il, Bab 7. §§ 20-23) Cairo, 1955, p. 1790.

17. Cf. W.Z. Harvey, "Torah [Eternity (or Non-Abrogability)]," in Encyclopedia Judaica, col. 1244-1246.

18. Guide des égarés, II, 29, Paris, 1960, p. 230.

19. Ibid., 39, p. 303.

20. Pensées, Br. 799.

21. Les Destinées, 1862 edition.

22. Talmud de Babylone, treatise of bBaba Metsiah, 59 b.

23. Über einige Grundbegriffe des Judentums. Frankfurt, 1970. p. 104.

24. Énnéades. III, 8 [30], 11, 13; V, 5 [32], 13, 10; VI, 7 [38], 41, 16.

25. Banquet, 200 e.

26. Origéne, Contre Celeste, IV, § 67.

27. Aristote, Histoire des animaux, IV, 9: 535 b 4.

28. C.S. Lewis, Till we have faces. A myth retold, Grand Rapids, 1966, p. 308.

29. Bernanos, Journal d'un curé de campagne, Paris, p. 1162.

30. Politique, II, 5, 1264a 3.

31. Kitab al-Huruf, II, § 143, Beirut, 1962, pp. 151ff.

32. Talmud de Babylone, treatise Megillah, II, 13, p. 19 b.

33. Ibid. treatise Baba Bathra, I, 6, p. 12 b.

34. Cf. the texts quoted in J. Leibowitz, Israel et judaisme. Ma part de verité, Paris, 1993, and his commentary: "The law says that what the human intellect decides about the law is the divine law itself." (p. 100); and especially: "The spoken law is, on the one hand, a human fabrication; on the other hand we receive it as if it were divine law - this very law that we ourselves have con structed." (p. 99). Compare this with Isaiah 2:8.

35. Cf. Friedmann (op. cit. n. 15), pp. 199-205.

36. The ideas presented here have already been developed in my Europe, la voie romaine, Paris, 1993 (2nd ed.).

37. Philosophie der Religion, p. 100. The same game is played by Schelling in Philoso phie der Offenbarung, lesson XXIV, p. 11 and XXV, p. 31.

38. Ps.-Denys L'Aréopagite, Lettre 3, PG 3. 1069A. And also cf. Maxime le Con fesseur ad. loc. Ambigua, PG 91, 1048 d - 1049 b.

39. Pascal, 4e Lettre à Mademoisell de Roannez, (ca. 29 Oct. 1656) in Oeuvres Complètes, J. Mesnard, (ed.), vol. III, Paris, 1991, p. 1035.

40. Cf. Roman Jakobson, "Why ‘Mama' and ‘Papa"', Selected Writings, I, Phonologi cal Studies, Paris, 1971, pp. 538-543.