"The God Absorbing text"

Kabbalah, through radical hermeneutical techniques, created a colorful universe of esoteric concepts. By tearing up the surface level of the texts, kabbalist mystics believed they can fathom into the divine mysteries. With the emergence of the new enlightened sense of past, however, this interpretative method was refused as a deterrent example for violation of the autentic meaning. Enlightemnent and post-Enlightenment theologians confidently advocated an unbiased, dogma-free biblical hermeneutics. Yet, unconsciously though, by developing new historical and critical methods they again and again reconfigured and redefined the text in order to render it a usable subject of historical examination. Thus they fell back into the kabbalist s pit: the God of the text remained absorbed by the meaning attributed to the text. Can we evade the hermeneutical impasse today? This book leaves the question open but moves toward a narrative hermeneutics that intends to provide room for both historical and mystical understanding. This study, as a mark of a theoretical but deeply personal struggle, might be interesting for those studied Christians who strive for unity of faith and knowledge.

Autorentext

György Kustár - PhD Candidate on the Theological Seminary of Debrecen, Hungary, Pastor of the Reformed Church in Tiszabecs