Art & religious mystery.John Savant's penetrating penetrating breaching the tissues of the body. essay on metaphor, poetry, and jazz ("Follow That Metaphor," November 18, 2005) recalls Paul Ricoeur's argument that "literal In programming, any data typed in by the programmer that remains unchanged when translated into machine language. Examples are a constant value used for calculation purposes as well as text messages displayed on screen. In the following lines of code, the literals are 1 and VALUE IS ONE. falsity is thus an ingredient of metaphorical truth." One wonders why so many Christians hue to literal conceptions of religious truth as most indicative of the mind of God. Strict constructionists of the Constitution, the Bible, or of dogmatic dog·mat·ic adj. 1. Relating to, characteristic of, or resulting from dogma. 2. Characterized by an authoritative, arrogant assertion of unproved or unprovable principles. See Synonyms at dictatorial. and moral traditions all "fall short of metaphor" and hence fall short of mystery. Our great need today, as Savant sa·vant n. 1. A learned person; a scholar. 2. An idiot savant. [French, learned, savant, from Old French, present participle of savoir, to know reminds us, is for persons of moral imagination, improvisers even "in the very agon of our ultimate inadequacy." We need more poets like Savant, and fewer sacred managers. PAUL E. DINTER Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. |
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