Theology and aesthetics
religious experience and the textual sublime
pp. 120-159
in: , Theology and contemporary critical theory, Berlin, Springer, 2000Abstract
Texts have always been recognized as having the power to transform their readers, for good or evil. In the early years of post-exilic Israel, when the Temple of Solomon and the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, we find Ezra holding a public reading of the Mosaic Law. The effect of this reading is recorded in the Book of Nehemiah: "all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law" (Nehemiah 8.9). Though Ezra bids them to change their response to one of celebration, the day is considered holy because it effects a change, a repentance, in the hearts of the people. Performed, the law communicates, and God's Word is disseminated.