A Theology Of Reading: The Hermeneutics Of LoveIf the whole of the Christian life is to be governed by the “law of love”—the twofold love of God and one's neighbor—what might it mean to read lovingly? That is the question that drives this unique book. Jacobs pursues this challenging task by alternating largely theoretical, theological chapters—drawing above all on Augustine and Mikhail Bakhtin—with interludes that investigate particular readers (some real, some fictional) in the act of reading. Among the authors considered are Shakespeare, Cervantes, Nabakov, Nicholson Baker, George Eliot, W.H. Auden, and Dickens. The theoretical framework is elaborated in the main chapters, while various counterfeits of or substitutes for genuinely charitable interpretation are considered in the interludes, which progressively close in on that rare creature, the loving reader. Through this doubled method of investigation, Jacobs tries to show how difficult it is to read charitably—even should one wish to, which, of course, few of us do. And precisely because the prospect of reading in such a manner is so offputting, one of the covert goals of the book is to make it seem both more plausible and more attractive. |
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Page 62
... true answerability is achieved only when I recog- nize that this " fact of uniqueness " imposes a responsibility upon me that I cannot avert . When I acknowledge my responsibility and act upon it — whether in a conversation with a ...
... true answerability is achieved only when I recog- nize that this " fact of uniqueness " imposes a responsibility upon me that I cannot avert . When I acknowledge my responsibility and act upon it — whether in a conversation with a ...
Page 63
... true - to " ; when one attends to the life or work of another lovingly and with constancy , one is being true to her ; that is , one is doing justice to who she is . And in the context of the Ortho- dox Christianity that , as we have ...
... true - to " ; when one attends to the life or work of another lovingly and with constancy , one is being true to her ; that is , one is doing justice to who she is . And in the context of the Ortho- dox Christianity that , as we have ...
Page 155
... true , even if the author whom he is reading did not grasp this truth - though the author did of course express a truth , but a different one ? " ( xii . 18 ) . David Glidden takes this passage to be saying that " the first sentence of ...
... true , even if the author whom he is reading did not grasp this truth - though the author did of course express a truth , but a different one ? " ( xii . 18 ) . David Glidden takes this passage to be saying that " the first sentence of ...
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Common terms and phrases
achieve Adam Bede agape Alasdair MacIntyre Alcibiades argument Aristotelian Aristotle Aristotle's attention Auden Augustine Augustine's Augustinian Baker Bakhtin Buffalo Bill C. S. Lewis calls Cartesian Chapter character charitable reading charity Christ Christian circus claim Claudio and Don context course criticism cultural Derrida Dickens Dickens's Dickinson Dinah Dinah Morris discernment discourse distinction Don Pedro essay ethical eudaimonia friendship Gadamer genuine George Eliot gift Gradgrind hermeneutics hermeneutics of love Hero human I-for-myself interpretation Iris Murdoch Jacques Derrida Jesus justice kenosis Kierkegaard Kinbote kind knowledge language literary live magnanimous means Milbank moral narrator neighbor Nietzsche Nietzsche's notion Nussbaum one's oneself pagan Pale Fire passage perhaps person philia pleasure poem political precisely question Quixotic quoted reader Rich Scripture sense Shade simply Sleary Sleary's spirit theology things thought tion Tompkins tradition truth understanding Updike Vereker virtue W. H. Auden words writes Zarathustra