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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Contents
Prelude | 1 |
1 Contexts and Obstacles | 9 |
The Illuminati | 37 |
2 Love and Knowledge | 43 |
Transfer of Charisma | 69 |
3 Love and the Suspicious Spirit | 77 |
Quixotic Reading | 91 |
4 Kenosis | 101 |
Two Charitable Readers | 113 |
5 Justice | 125 |
Postlude | 145 |
Notes | 153 |
173 | |
183 | |
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achieve Adam answer argument Aristotelian Aristotle attention Auden Augustine Bakhtin become believe better calls Chapter character charity Christian claim clear comes consider context course criticism cultural distinction especially essay ethical experience explains faith feel friendship gift give given hermeneutics Hero hope human important interest interpretation Jesus justice Kierkegaard kind knowledge language later less live look matter means mind moral nature necessary neighbor never Nietzsche notion offer one’s oneself particular passage perhaps person play pleasure poem political position possible practice precisely problem provides question quoted reader reading reason receive recognize reference reflection relation remain requires response Rich seek seems sense simply speak spirit suggests theology things thought tion tradition true truth understanding virtue wants whole writes