scholarly journals FROM CRISIS TO MEANING: CREATIVITY IN THE BIBLICAL NARRATIVE OF EVE AND THE INVERSION BY F. KAFKA

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-272
Author(s):  
Luc Anckaert ◽  
Roger Burggraeve
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Meaning Of Life ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law

The possibilities of creativity in human life depend on discovering the meaning of life. Franz Kafka’s story Before the Law evokes how every attempt at finding this meaning, represented as the law, comes with a crisis and can result in failure. The secret of human existence is all about intimate personal encounters. The other than myself, which is also deeply present inside myself, is not the impersonal thing that it is oftentimes made out to be. In an already published article, we presented a close-reading of Kafka’s text. We only refer to the results in the first paragraph. In this article, we read the biblical narrative on Adam and Eve as a text that is structured by the same economy – the intertwinedness of the I-Thou relation with the I-It relation. But in opposition to the Kafka narrative, the crisis is overcome and results in a new creative perspective on the human condition: the discovery of the ultimate intersubjective meaning of life. The meaning makes love and labour possible. It means that the creativity of becoming human is the result of interaction. The context of our research is a long project on developing a philosophical reading of Biblical texts that was developed at the KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. The methodology is inspired by the Talmudic readings of Emmanuel Levinas and by the philosophical interpretations of the Bible of Paul Ricœur. In this way, we introduce a non-confessional way of understanding religious texts on the creativity of becoming human. Santrauka Kūrybiškumo galimybės žmogaus gyvenime priklauso nuo atrastos gyvenimo prasmės. Franzo Kafkos apysaka Prieš įstatymą sukelia minčių, kaip bet kokiomis pastangomis rasti šią įstatymo simbolizuojamą prasmę, prasidedančią nuo krizės ir galinčią baigtis nesėkme. Žmogaus egzistavimo paslaptis yra absoliučiai neatsiejama nuo intymių asmeninių sutikčių. Kitas, skirtingai nei aš pats, kuris taip pat esti giliai manyje pačiame, nėra nesuasmenintas daiktas, kuris dažnai taip traktuojamas. Jau paskelbtame straipsnyje pristatėme nuodugnų Kafkos teksto aiškinimą. Pirmame skirsnyje tiesiog pateikiame prieitas išvadas. Šiame straipsnyje interpretuojame biblinį Adomo ir Ievos naratyvą kaip tekstą, kurio struktūra grindžiama tokia pat ekonomija – Aš–Tu ir Aš–Tai santykio sampyna. Tačiau, priešingai Kafkos naratyvui, krizė įveikiama ir baigiasi nauja kūrybine žmogaus būklės perspektyva, atradus didžiausią intersubjektyvią gyvenimo prasmę. Prasmė suteikia galimybę mylėti ir dirbti. Tai reiškia, kad tapimo žmogumi kūrybiškumas yra sąveikavimo rezultatas. Mūsų tyrimo kontekstą sudaro Leveno katalikiškajame universitete (Levenas, Belgija) vykdytas ilgalaikis projektas, plėtojęs filosofines biblinių tekstų interpretacijas. Šiuo atveju pristatome nekonfesinį būdą suprasti religinius tekstus, skirtus tapimo žmogumi kūrybiškumui.

Sustenance and Survival in Biblical Narrative

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Koosed
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
Early Judaism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Class Status ◽  
Cultural Code ◽  
Shape Characterization

Food is a comprehensive cultural code. In ancient Israel and early Judaism, food production and preparation structured lives; what one did in the process was determined by gender and class status and sometimes even marked by ethnic and religious identity. Food also serves to structure narrative, shape characterization, and add layers of symbolic signification to story. In the Bible, the drama of the first few chapters revolves around proper versus improper eating, and the final book portrays God as a lamb sacrificed for the Passover meal. Between picking and tasting the forbidden fruit, and slaughtering and eating God, a whole host of food-related plots, characters, and images proliferate, many of which revolve around the most important of foodstuffs: bread. This chapter explores the centrality of bread in the story of Adam and Eve, the book of Ruth, and the gospels of Jesus.

scholarly journals Self-transcendence and Eros: The human condition between desire and the infinite

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornel W. Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Culture ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Inner World ◽  
Self Transcendence ◽  
The Impact

This article treats self-transcendence – like all transcendence – as a fact of human life. Inter alia this means that the human mind perforce operates in terms of binary concepts such as finitude–infinity, inner world–outside world, self–other, desire–fulfilment, separation–union and the like. We find these concepts in most myths of origin. The concept of desire (Eros), combining unfulfilment and the infinite, particularly epitomises self-transcendence. Ralph Waldo Emerson is cited as a precursor of the mid-19th century transcendentalists, whose ideas are resurfacing in present-day secular spirituality. In this article, we examined desire in the Christian conception of the Fall as envisioned by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber and by Hegel, who integrates mind and nature in his philosophy of Spirit. The works of Emmanuel Levinas and Paul Ricoeur are used as points of reference to help us understand self and other in a framework of self-transcendence. The impact of these ideas on a postmetaphysical epistemology was also explored. Affectivity is a neglected area in Western thought and displays the same infinitude as rationality. The article concluded with present-day strategies of self-construction in a techno-scientific consumer culture.

scholarly journals The Enlightenment Tradition of Nepal: Can the Civil Society Grasp it?

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Dev Raj Dahal
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Meaning Of Life ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Civic Virtues ◽  
Service To Others

Nepal's history of enlightenment reflects three traditions—Vedic, Videha Janak and Buddhist. Each of these traditions searches the meaning of life, actual human condition, links with nature and ways of emancipation. The cardinal features of its native civil society are rooted into niskam karma (selfless service) to others, enlightened thinking and action. Modern civil society troubled by the turmoil of post-modernity needs to capture this ancient wisdom that sees human life in the interconnection with other species rather than isolated fragments and requires to perform many other tasks to move the this post-conflict nation from violence to stable peace. Nourishing the civic virtues of freedom, justice, solidarity, reconciliation and peace are vital nutrients.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v8i0.10720Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 8, 2014; 1-28

scholarly journals Crisis and Meaning: F. Kafka and the Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Anckaert ◽  
Roger Burggraeve
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
Franz Rosenzweig ◽  
Quest For Meaning ◽  
The Law ◽  
Ternary Structure

The parable “Before the Law” is a pivotal text in the work of Franz Kafka. It tells of a man who looks for the law as the quintessence of his life. But his quest for meaning comes to a crisis because of a fundamental deception. Instead of interpreting the law as a personal mystery, he somehow objectifies it. His abstract view on life begets the obstacle-character that embodies all those who could bar him from finding the law. In this narrative, the failure of finding the law results in a murder in which human life is reduced to bestial death. In this sense, Kafka’s narrative is a tale of anti-creation. In a close reading we analyze the text with attention for the ternary structure, i.e. the intertwined complex of the I-Thou relation and the I-It relation (Martin Buber). The literary text is interpreted for its philosophical relevance. Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas but also Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida have an important role in this way of reading.

SEJARAH KONFLIK KEBANGKITAN ISLAM DI MINANGKABAU: Sebuah Tinjauan Awal Terhadap Proses Kemunculannya

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Ihsan Sanusi
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Islamic Revival ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Interactive Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Correct Understanding

This article in principle wants to examine the history of the emergence of the conflict of Islamic revival in Minangkabau starting from the Paderi Movement to the Youth in Minangkabau. Especially in the initial period, namely the Padri movement, there was a tragedy of violence (radicalism) that accompanied it. This study becomes important, because after all the reformation of Islam began to be realized by reforming human life in the world. Both in terms of thought with the effort to restore the correct understanding of religion as it should, from the side of the practice of religion, namely by reforming deviant practices and adapted to the instructions of the religious texts (al-Qur'an and sunnah), and also from the side of strengthening power religion. In this case the research will be directed to the efforts of renewal by the Padri to the Youth towards the Islamic community in Minangkabau. To discuss this problem used historical research methods. Through this method, it is tested and analyzed critically the records and relics of the past. In analyzing the data in this research basically used approach or interactive analysis model by Miles and Huberman. In this analysis model, the three components of the analysis are data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing or verification, the activity is carried out in an interactive form with the process of collecting data as a process that continues, repeats, and continues to form acycle.

„Rzymski” Żyd – nieznana twórczość Romana Brandstaettera

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61
Author(s):  
Dariusz Konrad Sikorski
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Role Model ◽  
The Self ◽  
Polish Literature ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law

Summary After 1946, ie. after embracing Christianity, Roman Brandstaetter would often point to the Biblical Jonah as a role model for both his life and his artistic endeavour. In the interwar period, when he was a columnist of Nowy Głos, a New York Polish-Jewish periodical, he used the penname Romanus. The ‘Roman’ Jew appears to have treated his columns as a form of an artistic and civic ‘investigation’ into scandalous cases of breaking the law, destruction of cultural values and violation of social norms. Although it his was hardly ‘a new voice’ with the potential to change the course of history, he did become an intransigent defender of free speech. Brought up on the Bible and the best traditions of Polish literature and culture, Brandstaetter, the self-appointed disciple of Adam Mickiewicz, could not but stand up to the challenge of anti-Semitic aggression.

Ważyk metafizyczny? / Ważyk – A Metaphysician?

2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-47
Author(s):  
Jerzy Święch
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Late Phase ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Strict Sense ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Self Sufficiency

Summary Adam Ważyk’s last volume of poems Zdarzenia (Events) (1977) can be read as a resume of the an avant-garde artist’s life that culminated in the discovery of a new truth about the human condition. The poems reveal his longing for a belief that human life, the mystery of life and death, makes sense, ie. that one’s existence is subject to the rule of some overarching necessity, opened onto the last things, rather than a plaything of chance. That entails a rejection of the idea of man’s self-sufficiency as an illusion, even though that kind of individual sovereignty was the cornerstone of modernist art. The art of late modernity, it may be noted, was already increasingly aware of the dangers of putting man’s ‘ontological security’ at risk. Ważyk’s last volume exemplifies this tendency although its poems appear to remain within the confines of a Cubist poetics which he himself helped to establish. In fact, however, as our readings of the key poems from Events make clear, he employs his accustomed techniques for a new purpose. The shift of perspective can be described as ‘metaphysical’, not in any strict sense of the word, but rather as a shorthand indicator of the general mood of these poems, filled with events which seem to trap the characters into a supernatural order of things. The author sees that much, even though he does not look with the eye of a man of faith. It may be just a game - and Ważyk was always fond of playing games - but in this one the stakes are higher than ever. Ultimately, this game is about salvation. Ważyk is drawn into it by a longing for the wholeness of things and a dissatisfaction with all forms of mediation, including the Cubist games of deformation and fragmentation of the object. It seems that the key to Ważyk’s late phase is to be found in his disillusionment with the twentieth-century avant-gardes. Especially the poems of Events contain enough clues to suggest that the promise of Cubism and surrealism - which he sought to fuse in his poetic theory and practice - was short-lived and hollow.

نظام التوثيق وأثره في إدارة الأصول الوقفية في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة: نماذج من إمارة الشارقة (Documentation System and its Impact on Endowment Managements in United Arabic Emirates: The Study of Emirate of Sharjah)

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-193
Author(s):  
مها بنت منصور الصائغ
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Documentation System ◽  
The People ◽  
Endowment Management ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law

شهد تاريخ الأمة الإسلامية حضارة ونهضة عالمية في جميع مجالات الحياة الإنسانية، ومما كان له كبير الأثر في ذلك هو الأوقاف التي بدأت مع سيد البشرية محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم واستمرت بتنوع وشمولية إلى عصرنا الحالي؛ ولكن ما تعرضت إليه الأوقاف من إهمال وإقصاء وضياع يرجع لأسباب عديدة من أهمها غياب التوثيق الوقفي. تقوم الدراسة على تتبع مفهوم الوقف والتوثيق، والوقف في الإمارات العربية المتحدة ول سيما في إمارة الشارقة. توصلت الدراسة إلى نتائج منها: أن الأوقاف قائمة منذ زمن بعيد، وأن رغبة الواقف بالوقف وإقدامه عليها لم ينقصها سوى وثيقة، وأنه لا وثائق لها ولا مستندات، كما أن العرض الموجز لنشأة دائرة الأوقاف بالشارقة وسعيها لإحياء سنة الوقف ونشر ثقافته نراه يتضح شيئاً فشيئاً من خلال تفعيل مواد القانون والبحث حول الأنسب والأصح لحماية الأوقاف، ولم يكن هذا الاهتمام بالوقف إلا انعكاساً لتوجه الواقفين وتماشياً لرؤية الحكام وامتثالاً لنهج خير الأنام ورغبة في تكافل الأرواح وحباً للسلام. الكلمات المفتاحيّة: الوقف، التوثيق، المقارنة، الشارقة. Abstract The history of Islamic nation has witnessed a global civilization and it has had a great impact in all areas of human life, including the endowments that began with the master of humankind; Muhammad S.A.W. and it was continuing in diversity and comprehensively until our epoch. However, there are some problems related to endowment management such as negligence, exclusion and loss that due to many reasons. Among the most important reasons is the absence of endowment documentations. Therefore, the study aims to discuss the concept of endowment and documentation, as well as the endowment in United Arabic Emirates, especially in the Emirate of Sharjah. The study concluded that the practice of endowment has been existed for a long time, yet there are in need of endowment documentations. This study also found that the information related to the establishment of institution of endowment in Sharjah and its role has   spread widely to the people through the enforcement of the law and the implementation of the research related to the practice of endowment in order to sustain them in a good way. This documentation system was only a reflection of what has  stated in Shariah laws regarding the practice of endowment among the donors, so that it will be in line with the approach of good intentions and love of peace. Keywords: Endowment, Documentation, Comparison, Sharjah.   

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document