The Compatibility between the Religious and the Nihilistic Currents in Dostoevsky’s World

The goal of this essay is to show the compatibility between two currents in Dostoevsky's world, namely, the religious and the nihilistic. Based on Nietzsche's theory of nihilism and Deleuze's interpretation of Nietzsche, I introduce a dynamic model – reactive nihilism – a destructive force that annihilates fading values to clear the way for the advent of a new value. Through the textual analysis, primarily focusing on the religious dimension presented by saintly characters and biblical intertextuality in The Brothers Karamazov, this essay argues that Dostoevsky's two trends do not conflict at all, but express in a common dynamic model, that is reactive nihilism.

‘As It Is Written’ … Where? Examining Generic Citations of Scripture in the New Testament

This article examines 33 ‘generic’ citations of Israel’s scriptures in the NT, defined as passages containing an introductory formula or other overt reference to a source, but lacking any actual quoted text. Each passage (from the gospels, Acts and Pauline epistles) is examined in terms of its citation form and particular meaning in context, and then this broader pattern of ‘generic’ citation is compared with Second Temple citation practices. Having rarely been studied collectively, these citations provide interesting insight into how the NT authors draw upon the whole of the OT – without reference to specific prooftexts – to make assertions about Israel’s history, Christology, and the church. They should be given more consideration in the broader field of biblical intertextuality.

The value of the relationship: An intertextual reading of Song of Songs and Lamentations

For the most part, scholars interested in biblical “intertextuality” have divided themselves into two categories: those interested in a reader-oriented approach and those utilizing an author-oriented approach. The reader-oriented approach is a synchronic reading focused primarily on the reader’s perception of the text. By contrast, the author-oriented approach is a diachronic reading concerned with discerning the authorial intent of an intertextual connection. Proponents of an author-oriented approach accuse reader-oriented scholars with eisegesis, whereas those interested in reader-oriented studies claim that the other side runs the risk of speculation by focusing on something as elusive as authorial intent. An appropriate method or approach for studying intertextuality depends on the two (or more) texts in question. This article will examine the benefits of utilizing the best method for the right texts. In some cases, a reader-oriented approach brings to light a connection that might not be found if an author-oriented approach took precedence. In order to substantiate this proposal this article will explore the intertextual connections between Lam 4:1–10 and Song 5:10–16. The lexical parallels within these two passages are distinct and dense. Their unique use of color imagery and their utilization of rare Hebrew words create a purposeful point of connection. Whereas an author-oriented approach is nearly impossible in this case (owing to the difficulty of dating), a reader-oriented approach reveals a deep and profound new meaning for each text.

Comment le rapport au texte biblique transforme le rapport au texte littéraire au XVIIIe siècle : le cas Rousseau

In the 18th century, the Bible felt the full force of criticism by radical Enlightenment thinkers who read it piece by piece and denounced the process of its creation as an imposture – thus extending the break initiated by moral and historical critiques of the previous century. In doing so, they nevertheless failed to grant it the literary status of a “profane work”. Yet, Rousseau, who produced a literary rewriting of the Book of Judges with his Levite of Ephraim, pondered over the violence inflicted on biblical intertextuality during his exile in Môtiers: in his Letters Written from the Mountain, he compared it to the violence caused to his own literary works. By draw-ing this parallel, he opened a reflection on the different manners of reading a text, as well as the possibility of regulating the reader’s violence through proposing an ethics of literary reception. Analogy might not work as a substitute; however, it enabled Rousseau to go beyond the mistreatment which anti-philosophers or philosophers inflicted on his works, by giving, among other things, an autobiographical orienta-tion to his writing: one in which the author is ready to take responsibility for giving himself to the reader. The ambivalence of the sacred and the profane, the perception of a common essence of religion – defined either by sacrifice or gift – were thus what helped Rousseau invent the autobiographical pact.