Michal Klinger
*1946 in Poland. 1980-90 professor of Christian Philosophy and Art in the Orthodox High Seminar for Priests. 1978-2012 Orthodox Chair of the Old Testament - Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw
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Papers by Michal Klinger
(Testimony to Herbert's poetry)
Abstrakt
Podjęty jest problem kryterium poetyckości w oparciu o doświadczenie autorskiej lektury Pana Cogito przez Zbigniewa Herberta w połowie lat 70. Tłem są wybrane fenomeny poezji od ich archaicznego początku melicznego po nowe, odchodzące od „muzyczności” poezji, koncepcje, np. Chlebnikowa i Przybosia. Podana zostanie, mało u nas znana, fenomenologia poezji opartej o paralelizm członów, żywa od Biblii po liturgię bizantyjską i praktykę cerkiewno-słowiańską. „Pan Cogito” staje wobec dwoistości działania poezji – drogą poza-racjonalną („muzyczną”), lub drogą „przesłania” treści (dla rozumu). Wskazane są pozycje Brodskiego i Miłosza. Postawiona zostaje teza, iż Pan Cogito ostatecznie odnajduje się po stronie melicznego „początku” poezji.
Słowa – klucze: Pan Cogito, Herbert, poezja meliczna, biblijna, bizantyjska, wiersz wolny, „Przesłanie Pana Cogito” – „Dezyderata” z Baltimore
The problem of the criterion of poetry is taken up on the basis of the experience of Zbigniew Herbert's reading of Mr. Cogito in the mid-1970s. As the background are selected aspects of poetry, from their archaic melic beginning to new concepts denying the "musicality" of poetry, e.g. by Khlebnikov and Przyboś. The phenomenology of poetry based on the “parallelism of parts”, alive from the Bible to the Byzantine liturgy and Church Slavonic practice, is given. "Mr. Cogito" is confronted with the duality of poetry's action – either by a non-rational ("musical") way, or by a way of "communicating" the content (for reason). Brodsky's and Milosz’ positions are indicated. A thesis is put forward that Mr. Cogito ultimately finds himself on the side of the melic "beginning" of poetry.
Key words: Mr. Cogito, Herbert, melic, biblical, Byzantine poetry, free verse, "The Message of Mr. Cogito" – "Desiderata" from Baltimore.
Abstract
Nowosielski's work, by being rooted in a traditional icon, shows the ability to act directly with its Gospel message on the man. The perception of the painting vision requires a kind of "opening of the eyes" to the beauty of art, and also – thanks to art – to the sacred revealed in the profane. The essence of the traditional icon, which Nowosielski penetrates and enlivens, opens the way to experience the salvation of the human bodily condition through the mystery of the Incarnation. Discursive theology only brings these mysteries closer, while the painter's vision makes it present, as it were, "experiential" and thus testifies to salvation. The charism of Nowosielski's writings is also presented as indicating the influence on man of both - art and the Gospel being the most fully brought to life in the art of the icon.
Keywords
Nowosielski, icon, Gospel, mandylion, corporeality, salvation.
Słowa – klucze
Nowosielski, ikona, Ewangelia, mandylion, cielesność, zbawienie.
Michał Klinger, Ewangelia w Ikonie – o świadectwie malarskim Jerzego Nowosielskiego [w:] „Sztuka – Kultura – Nauka.” Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Lubrańskiego, 2 (2024), Poznań s. 25-37.
The liturgy of the Eastern Church involves comprehensively various artistic means – icon, music, poetry and other literary forms, the dramaturgy of choirs, the division of voices, conductors and acolytes, scenes, dialogues, lectors, processions, homilies, lights, aromas, costumes, etc. These forms purify themselves of subjective falsifications and accumulate over the centuries, creating a "canon". It is therefore difficult to access and requires initiation (mystagogy). The liturgy leads to sacred experiences, e.g. salvation, Passover. This is how the hermeneutical function of the phenomena of Eastern liturgy arises.
Liturgia Kościoła wschodniego angażuje kompleksowo różne środki artystyczne – obraz, muzykę, poezję i inne formy literackie, dramaturgię chórów, rozdziału głosów, przewodników i akolitów, scen, dialogów, lektorów, oracji, procesji, świateł, aromatów, szat etc. Te formy oczyszczają się z subiektywnych zafałszowań i nawarstwiają wiekami, tworząc „kanon”. Jest on przez to trudno dostępny i wymaga wtajemniczenia (mistagogii). Liturgia prowadzi ku doświadczeniom sakralnym, np. zbawienia, Paschy. Tak powstaje hermeneutyczna funkcja fenomenów liturgii wschodniej.
"Rocznik Teologiczny" LXIV (2), Chrześcijańska Akademia Teologiczna, Warszawa 2022, s. 557-564.
Stawiam znów pytanie o dostępne dziś ślady misterium.
Anthropological weakness is a dominant of the body. The article presents the cultural body-love-death topos upon the basis of numerous works, such as Une Charogne by Charles Baudelaire, the motif of “the raising of Lazarus” in Crime and Punishment, Russian Orthodox hymns, et al. The analysis produces an image of solidarity between God and man within the drama of corporeality and not within transcendence, evoking their “co-dependence” in sui generis pantheism possessing existential-personal features. “What will you do, God, when I die?” (Silesius, Rilke in Russia). “What is man?” against the kenosis of God. The mystery of evil does not exhaust the mystery of man. His vocation is creativity (Berdyaev), whose outcome is not foreseen even by God. Nonetheless, man succumbs to kenosis – “in the image” of God?
Phenomenological theses about the icon
Delivered during open-air workshops for iconographers in the village Nowica in the Beskids Mountains, Poland, in 2015 and 2017. In short, published in the catalog for the post-plein-air exhibition in 2017. A wider publication by M. Klinger, "Strażnik wrót" Próby z hermeneutyki teologicznej, Ed. Passaże, Kraków 2019, pp. 275 – 290. The current version is an extension of the previous ones.
The following theses are presented: An icon is an art because it looks for the beauty of the "primordial" image; Moreover, it is a "pictorial epiphany" of the mysteries of Christianity, not an illustration of them; The reception of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787 is discussed. The icon is based on the miracle of the Incarnation, so it should not be interpreted in Platonic style, e.g. as a "window to heaven". A misunderstanding in the concept of "writing" icons is clarified, also as falsifying the essence of the art of the Icon. The icon art restores the original Image of God in man and through beauty saves his corporeality (en sarki). The iconographic experiences of Jerzy Nowosielski, for example, as well as of the secular contemporary painting (Maria Lassnig) are discussed. The icon is a rare opportunity to anticipate the difficult mystery of the Resurrection.
The Paper shows, how the Law, in the history of the Abraham, promotes a definition of the “fatherland” - extremely universal and topical up to this day. The idea at that pattern seems to resolve the primary “ethnical” crisis, originating from the time of the Tower of Babel; The historical development, with the “socio-political” crisis in Land of Canaan, leads to sacralised self-questioning of the “dual-idea” Land – Nation in Deuteronomic prophetism (“Shemah Israel…”). Israeli/ Jewish identity was becoming more religious then national.
M. Klinger, Chwila a wieczność (bezczasowość tekstu), [w:] KONTEKSTY (Polska Sztuka Ludowa t. LXXVI) Nr 1-2 /2022 (336-337), Instytut Sztuki PAN, Warszawa 2022, s. 101-109.
Abstract
The article embarks upon the problem of experiencing the “while-moment” as a dilemma of choosing its fullness while facing claims made by time and eternity. The proposed hypothesis maintains that the ‘while’ is inaccessible from the outside, being closed from the inside, only but the ‘moment - while’ creates texts; The aspect of temporality is a quasi--text, a “movie” illusion. Above hovers the demand of Absolute - transcendence.
The case studies from literature (Mandelstam), philosophy (Phaedrus), and Bible are presented. This concept claims its affinities to the Messianic visions in the Scripture, expressed by W. Benjamin, G. Agamben, and to the “occasions of experience” described by A. Whitehead.
***
Podjęty będzie problem doświadczenia „chwili”, jako dylemat wyboru jej pełni wobec roszczeń czasu i wieczności. Zaproponowana zostanie hipoteza, że ‘chwila’ jest niedostępna w swej pełni od zewnątrz i zamknięta od wewnątrz; Zarazem jedynie chwila jest tekstotwórcza; Aspekt czasowości jest quasi-tekstem, iluzją „filmową”. Nad wszystkim zaś zawisa uroszczenie transcendencji. Przedstawione są przykłady z literatury (Mandelsztam), filozofii (Fajdros), Biblii. Koncepcja ta wnosi swą rację w oparciu o biblijny Mesjanizm, a wydaje się być bliska mesjańskim intuicjom W. Benjamina i G. Agambena, a także koncepcji „wydarzeń” (occasions of experience) A. Whiteheada.
Słowa – klucze (Key words): chwila, wieczność, absolut, Platon, egzystencja, tekst, eschatologia, metafizyka, Mesjasz, Sąd, apokaliptyka, skrzypek Hercowicz, Demarczyk, Kierkegaard, monadologia, Whitehead, Benjamin, Agamben, Żiwago.
By Michal Klinger
Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, Faculty of Theology, Emeritus Faculty Member
The study is a reworked part of an author’s article: On the Final Suffering on the Mountain: Abraham - Moses - Job – Messiah, KONTEKSTY (Quarterly on anthropology, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Warsaw, ISSUE 2014/1 (304), p. 86-97
Abstract
Famous pericope about the Abraham’s sacrifice on the Moriah Mountains (Gn 22) is exegetically examined on the level of final redaction intentional massage. None “positive” explanation or solution would be applicable to that Text, as already S. Kierkegaard suggested (Fear and Trembling). Night, darkness of faith became the Patriarch’s legacy (Oscura noche…). God’s, as dramatis personae, prompt reaction to the Abraham’s act contrasted strongly with Man’s tragic, consequent silence. That narrative structure we call “ascending revelation”. The same structure we suggest for explaining the encounter between the Lord and innocent suffering of the man, concluding the Book of Job. The Abraham’s sacrifice story seems to agree with the René Girard’s concept of the “sacrificial crisis”; The story’s legacy results at the Jerusalem Temple cult. It provokes the Messianic redemption.
On the margin, the junctive formula of the pericope “after those words…” is explained as a “self-conscious textuality” of the Scripture semiotic paradigm.
„Grzesznice” obok „celników” to postacie deklaratywnie wprost wzorcowe w przepowiadaniu Ewangelii (np. Mt 21:31-32; Łk 7:36n; 15:1-7; r. 18). Jednocześnie uderza, iż w warstwie narracyjnej motyw „grzesznicy” jest b. ograniczony (tylko Łk 7:36n). Wątek ten jednak, w wariantach „namaszczenia w Betanii”, okazuje się być kluczowym nurtem ewangelicznego przepowiadania zbawienia; Niejako – jest Ewangelią (słowa Jezusa w Betanii, Mt 26:13 // Mr 14:9). Bazując na jego powiązaniu w tekście z tematem pogrzebu Jezusa, wskazujemy na ukrytą w Ew. św. Jana identyfikację Marii z Betanii z postacią Magdaleny. Opowiadamy się też za hipotezą o wspólnym źródle narracji o namaszczeniu w Betanii oraz przez jawnogrzesznicę u Łukasza (to samo opowiadanie w czterech redakcjach). Przemilczenie aspektu grzeszności w Betanii bibliści czasem uznają za “delikatność”. Natomiast tradycja liturgiczna (wschodnia) jasno potwierdza hipotezy o jedności tej Postaci ewangelicznej.
Pokazujemy, jak godne miejsce ma ta tajemnica w liturgii Prawosławia, szczególnie w liturgii Wielkiej Środy, też w hymnografii św. Romana Melodosa, a także w syntetycznej postaci / ikonie Paraskewy – Piatnicy.
Abstract
The “next to world”, the “world (which is) next to”, is portrayed as an interpretation formula and a missing segment in the field of discovering textual meanings. It depicts a presence of sorts to which the text refers, but which does not occur in it directly, as in a film shot; The interpretation data of the text should, however, indicate the methodologically objective presence of that “next to world” in it. It offers signs and leaves traces in the text. The “Sign” is put forward as the terminus technicus of the phenomenon in question, but only as a “Sign” freed from semantic arbitrariness and designation function (e.g. the ”golden horn” in Wesele [The Wedding] by Wyspiański). Such a “Sign”, as a rule, remains a metaphor nor does it explain anything in the text, but merely exists and only as such does it indicate the “next to world”.
It is discussed the distinction between the “next to world” and the symbol, the allegory, and other traditional carriers of interpretation meanings, including Biblical ones – the Hebrew “ot” and the Greek typos. The “next to world” proves to be useful for an interpretation always on the borderline of semiosis. It is “to the ship as a coastline, to the shore as a ship”; it beckons and, at the same time, prohibits access. Its Signs “do not close up”, a feature that should be applied for distinguishing them from interpretation phenomena employed within the meaning system. Art is suffused with epiphanies of the “world next to us”, however small they might be. These are not “systemic”, e.g. theological epiphanies, because they remain on the borderline of semiosis and even outside the meta-level, and thus they do not take part in metaphysics but in mysticism at best.
The author considered examples of the occurrence of the “next to world” and its Signs in the Holy Writ (certain epiphanies according to the Elohist Mosaic tradition) and assorted films by Kieślowski from the Decalogue series as well as La double vie de Véronique, examined in greater detail. Examples of poetry by, i.a. Leśmian and T. Różewicz serve an attempt at explaining the difference between the Signs of the “next to world” and other formal functions of the metaphor. An essential feature of the “next to world” Signs appears to be the fact that they “evade” interpretation within the range of the system contrary to the essence of the symbol, which is always ”within” the foundation of every system. Furthermore, the author discussed the hermeneutic determinants of those Signs within the context of, i.e. Sartre’s ontological reservations. Finally, he tried to apply the method using the “next to world” Sign for interpreting texts, mainly of the John Gospel, about Mary/ Magdalene fulfilling the “function of Antigone”. He also indicated the highly mysterious emotional Signs found in the Gospel: the anointing at Bethany, Mary of Magdala weeping next to the empty grave and “turning” in the Garden, and the Noli me tangere... Sign (John 20:17). Their Formgeschichte and “redaction”, however, transmits mysterious Presence. The “absent present” is not a lack nor a gap to be filled, but a force (dynamis) of the Text.
[Drugie przyjście; Problem upadku dziejów]
KONTEKSTY (Quarterly on anthropology, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Warsaw, Issue LXX/2016 No 3-4 (314-315), p. 19-34.
The objective of this study is to indicate the astoundingly topical nature of the evangelical eschatological paradigm (presented in the introduction) by resorting to examples of selected cultural texts. Despite the mass-scale secularisation of our civilisation the extreme experiences present in those texts are sui generis mystical. Some of them testify to epiphanies uncoordinated with traditional orthodoxy and connected not with doctrine but with the Person (of Jesus), whose (second) coming grants them the character of an ultimate event (parousia).
The reflections concern the cultural phenomenon of experiencing the insufficiencies of Tradition. Selected texts served an analysis of the antinomies of nostalgia and dialectics as well as classical decadence (e.g. Baudelaire’s Le voyage) and mysticism, which reveals its features as “empty ideality” (according to the interpretation by H. Friedrich). The decline of history is illustrated by P. Verlaine (Decadence) and A. Blok (The Scythians).
These experiences lead towards a vision of the revolution (in the finale of The Drunken Boat by A. Rimbaud), on the one hand, and towards an astounding revelation of Jesus descending into Hell (an encounter with the “Bridegroom” at the bottom of Hell’s pit), on the other hand. That chocking Parousia finds its approval by corresponding with an Orthodox liturgy reading of the Gospel. A similarity, difficult to explain, of the sceneries of those epiphanies in Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell and Blok’s The Twelve is indicated.
Eschatological epiphanies of Jesus are presented in interpretations by Russian authors: M. Gogol, V. Solovyov, F. Dostoevsky, M. Bulgakov, and B. Pasternak. To that tradition the important contribution is made by the forgotten work by Y. Golosovker: Запись неистребимая/ Сожженный роман (Burned Novel 1928/1991). The parallel and synchronic intuition of Jesus coming again (with deprived or migrating people) is found by A. Blok and G. Apollinaire (Zone).
All these epiphanies are also analysed from the viewpoint of the idea/figure of the “deceiver” and pseudo-prophet - the Antichrist, person of crucial significance in the New Testament.
(Testimony to Herbert's poetry)
Abstrakt
Podjęty jest problem kryterium poetyckości w oparciu o doświadczenie autorskiej lektury Pana Cogito przez Zbigniewa Herberta w połowie lat 70. Tłem są wybrane fenomeny poezji od ich archaicznego początku melicznego po nowe, odchodzące od „muzyczności” poezji, koncepcje, np. Chlebnikowa i Przybosia. Podana zostanie, mało u nas znana, fenomenologia poezji opartej o paralelizm członów, żywa od Biblii po liturgię bizantyjską i praktykę cerkiewno-słowiańską. „Pan Cogito” staje wobec dwoistości działania poezji – drogą poza-racjonalną („muzyczną”), lub drogą „przesłania” treści (dla rozumu). Wskazane są pozycje Brodskiego i Miłosza. Postawiona zostaje teza, iż Pan Cogito ostatecznie odnajduje się po stronie melicznego „początku” poezji.
Słowa – klucze: Pan Cogito, Herbert, poezja meliczna, biblijna, bizantyjska, wiersz wolny, „Przesłanie Pana Cogito” – „Dezyderata” z Baltimore
The problem of the criterion of poetry is taken up on the basis of the experience of Zbigniew Herbert's reading of Mr. Cogito in the mid-1970s. As the background are selected aspects of poetry, from their archaic melic beginning to new concepts denying the "musicality" of poetry, e.g. by Khlebnikov and Przyboś. The phenomenology of poetry based on the “parallelism of parts”, alive from the Bible to the Byzantine liturgy and Church Slavonic practice, is given. "Mr. Cogito" is confronted with the duality of poetry's action – either by a non-rational ("musical") way, or by a way of "communicating" the content (for reason). Brodsky's and Milosz’ positions are indicated. A thesis is put forward that Mr. Cogito ultimately finds himself on the side of the melic "beginning" of poetry.
Key words: Mr. Cogito, Herbert, melic, biblical, Byzantine poetry, free verse, "The Message of Mr. Cogito" – "Desiderata" from Baltimore.
Abstract
Nowosielski's work, by being rooted in a traditional icon, shows the ability to act directly with its Gospel message on the man. The perception of the painting vision requires a kind of "opening of the eyes" to the beauty of art, and also – thanks to art – to the sacred revealed in the profane. The essence of the traditional icon, which Nowosielski penetrates and enlivens, opens the way to experience the salvation of the human bodily condition through the mystery of the Incarnation. Discursive theology only brings these mysteries closer, while the painter's vision makes it present, as it were, "experiential" and thus testifies to salvation. The charism of Nowosielski's writings is also presented as indicating the influence on man of both - art and the Gospel being the most fully brought to life in the art of the icon.
Keywords
Nowosielski, icon, Gospel, mandylion, corporeality, salvation.
Słowa – klucze
Nowosielski, ikona, Ewangelia, mandylion, cielesność, zbawienie.
Michał Klinger, Ewangelia w Ikonie – o świadectwie malarskim Jerzego Nowosielskiego [w:] „Sztuka – Kultura – Nauka.” Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Lubrańskiego, 2 (2024), Poznań s. 25-37.
The liturgy of the Eastern Church involves comprehensively various artistic means – icon, music, poetry and other literary forms, the dramaturgy of choirs, the division of voices, conductors and acolytes, scenes, dialogues, lectors, processions, homilies, lights, aromas, costumes, etc. These forms purify themselves of subjective falsifications and accumulate over the centuries, creating a "canon". It is therefore difficult to access and requires initiation (mystagogy). The liturgy leads to sacred experiences, e.g. salvation, Passover. This is how the hermeneutical function of the phenomena of Eastern liturgy arises.
Liturgia Kościoła wschodniego angażuje kompleksowo różne środki artystyczne – obraz, muzykę, poezję i inne formy literackie, dramaturgię chórów, rozdziału głosów, przewodników i akolitów, scen, dialogów, lektorów, oracji, procesji, świateł, aromatów, szat etc. Te formy oczyszczają się z subiektywnych zafałszowań i nawarstwiają wiekami, tworząc „kanon”. Jest on przez to trudno dostępny i wymaga wtajemniczenia (mistagogii). Liturgia prowadzi ku doświadczeniom sakralnym, np. zbawienia, Paschy. Tak powstaje hermeneutyczna funkcja fenomenów liturgii wschodniej.
"Rocznik Teologiczny" LXIV (2), Chrześcijańska Akademia Teologiczna, Warszawa 2022, s. 557-564.
Stawiam znów pytanie o dostępne dziś ślady misterium.
Anthropological weakness is a dominant of the body. The article presents the cultural body-love-death topos upon the basis of numerous works, such as Une Charogne by Charles Baudelaire, the motif of “the raising of Lazarus” in Crime and Punishment, Russian Orthodox hymns, et al. The analysis produces an image of solidarity between God and man within the drama of corporeality and not within transcendence, evoking their “co-dependence” in sui generis pantheism possessing existential-personal features. “What will you do, God, when I die?” (Silesius, Rilke in Russia). “What is man?” against the kenosis of God. The mystery of evil does not exhaust the mystery of man. His vocation is creativity (Berdyaev), whose outcome is not foreseen even by God. Nonetheless, man succumbs to kenosis – “in the image” of God?
Phenomenological theses about the icon
Delivered during open-air workshops for iconographers in the village Nowica in the Beskids Mountains, Poland, in 2015 and 2017. In short, published in the catalog for the post-plein-air exhibition in 2017. A wider publication by M. Klinger, "Strażnik wrót" Próby z hermeneutyki teologicznej, Ed. Passaże, Kraków 2019, pp. 275 – 290. The current version is an extension of the previous ones.
The following theses are presented: An icon is an art because it looks for the beauty of the "primordial" image; Moreover, it is a "pictorial epiphany" of the mysteries of Christianity, not an illustration of them; The reception of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787 is discussed. The icon is based on the miracle of the Incarnation, so it should not be interpreted in Platonic style, e.g. as a "window to heaven". A misunderstanding in the concept of "writing" icons is clarified, also as falsifying the essence of the art of the Icon. The icon art restores the original Image of God in man and through beauty saves his corporeality (en sarki). The iconographic experiences of Jerzy Nowosielski, for example, as well as of the secular contemporary painting (Maria Lassnig) are discussed. The icon is a rare opportunity to anticipate the difficult mystery of the Resurrection.
The Paper shows, how the Law, in the history of the Abraham, promotes a definition of the “fatherland” - extremely universal and topical up to this day. The idea at that pattern seems to resolve the primary “ethnical” crisis, originating from the time of the Tower of Babel; The historical development, with the “socio-political” crisis in Land of Canaan, leads to sacralised self-questioning of the “dual-idea” Land – Nation in Deuteronomic prophetism (“Shemah Israel…”). Israeli/ Jewish identity was becoming more religious then national.
M. Klinger, Chwila a wieczność (bezczasowość tekstu), [w:] KONTEKSTY (Polska Sztuka Ludowa t. LXXVI) Nr 1-2 /2022 (336-337), Instytut Sztuki PAN, Warszawa 2022, s. 101-109.
Abstract
The article embarks upon the problem of experiencing the “while-moment” as a dilemma of choosing its fullness while facing claims made by time and eternity. The proposed hypothesis maintains that the ‘while’ is inaccessible from the outside, being closed from the inside, only but the ‘moment - while’ creates texts; The aspect of temporality is a quasi--text, a “movie” illusion. Above hovers the demand of Absolute - transcendence.
The case studies from literature (Mandelstam), philosophy (Phaedrus), and Bible are presented. This concept claims its affinities to the Messianic visions in the Scripture, expressed by W. Benjamin, G. Agamben, and to the “occasions of experience” described by A. Whitehead.
***
Podjęty będzie problem doświadczenia „chwili”, jako dylemat wyboru jej pełni wobec roszczeń czasu i wieczności. Zaproponowana zostanie hipoteza, że ‘chwila’ jest niedostępna w swej pełni od zewnątrz i zamknięta od wewnątrz; Zarazem jedynie chwila jest tekstotwórcza; Aspekt czasowości jest quasi-tekstem, iluzją „filmową”. Nad wszystkim zaś zawisa uroszczenie transcendencji. Przedstawione są przykłady z literatury (Mandelsztam), filozofii (Fajdros), Biblii. Koncepcja ta wnosi swą rację w oparciu o biblijny Mesjanizm, a wydaje się być bliska mesjańskim intuicjom W. Benjamina i G. Agambena, a także koncepcji „wydarzeń” (occasions of experience) A. Whiteheada.
Słowa – klucze (Key words): chwila, wieczność, absolut, Platon, egzystencja, tekst, eschatologia, metafizyka, Mesjasz, Sąd, apokaliptyka, skrzypek Hercowicz, Demarczyk, Kierkegaard, monadologia, Whitehead, Benjamin, Agamben, Żiwago.
By Michal Klinger
Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, Faculty of Theology, Emeritus Faculty Member
The study is a reworked part of an author’s article: On the Final Suffering on the Mountain: Abraham - Moses - Job – Messiah, KONTEKSTY (Quarterly on anthropology, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Warsaw, ISSUE 2014/1 (304), p. 86-97
Abstract
Famous pericope about the Abraham’s sacrifice on the Moriah Mountains (Gn 22) is exegetically examined on the level of final redaction intentional massage. None “positive” explanation or solution would be applicable to that Text, as already S. Kierkegaard suggested (Fear and Trembling). Night, darkness of faith became the Patriarch’s legacy (Oscura noche…). God’s, as dramatis personae, prompt reaction to the Abraham’s act contrasted strongly with Man’s tragic, consequent silence. That narrative structure we call “ascending revelation”. The same structure we suggest for explaining the encounter between the Lord and innocent suffering of the man, concluding the Book of Job. The Abraham’s sacrifice story seems to agree with the René Girard’s concept of the “sacrificial crisis”; The story’s legacy results at the Jerusalem Temple cult. It provokes the Messianic redemption.
On the margin, the junctive formula of the pericope “after those words…” is explained as a “self-conscious textuality” of the Scripture semiotic paradigm.
„Grzesznice” obok „celników” to postacie deklaratywnie wprost wzorcowe w przepowiadaniu Ewangelii (np. Mt 21:31-32; Łk 7:36n; 15:1-7; r. 18). Jednocześnie uderza, iż w warstwie narracyjnej motyw „grzesznicy” jest b. ograniczony (tylko Łk 7:36n). Wątek ten jednak, w wariantach „namaszczenia w Betanii”, okazuje się być kluczowym nurtem ewangelicznego przepowiadania zbawienia; Niejako – jest Ewangelią (słowa Jezusa w Betanii, Mt 26:13 // Mr 14:9). Bazując na jego powiązaniu w tekście z tematem pogrzebu Jezusa, wskazujemy na ukrytą w Ew. św. Jana identyfikację Marii z Betanii z postacią Magdaleny. Opowiadamy się też za hipotezą o wspólnym źródle narracji o namaszczeniu w Betanii oraz przez jawnogrzesznicę u Łukasza (to samo opowiadanie w czterech redakcjach). Przemilczenie aspektu grzeszności w Betanii bibliści czasem uznają za “delikatność”. Natomiast tradycja liturgiczna (wschodnia) jasno potwierdza hipotezy o jedności tej Postaci ewangelicznej.
Pokazujemy, jak godne miejsce ma ta tajemnica w liturgii Prawosławia, szczególnie w liturgii Wielkiej Środy, też w hymnografii św. Romana Melodosa, a także w syntetycznej postaci / ikonie Paraskewy – Piatnicy.
Abstract
The “next to world”, the “world (which is) next to”, is portrayed as an interpretation formula and a missing segment in the field of discovering textual meanings. It depicts a presence of sorts to which the text refers, but which does not occur in it directly, as in a film shot; The interpretation data of the text should, however, indicate the methodologically objective presence of that “next to world” in it. It offers signs and leaves traces in the text. The “Sign” is put forward as the terminus technicus of the phenomenon in question, but only as a “Sign” freed from semantic arbitrariness and designation function (e.g. the ”golden horn” in Wesele [The Wedding] by Wyspiański). Such a “Sign”, as a rule, remains a metaphor nor does it explain anything in the text, but merely exists and only as such does it indicate the “next to world”.
It is discussed the distinction between the “next to world” and the symbol, the allegory, and other traditional carriers of interpretation meanings, including Biblical ones – the Hebrew “ot” and the Greek typos. The “next to world” proves to be useful for an interpretation always on the borderline of semiosis. It is “to the ship as a coastline, to the shore as a ship”; it beckons and, at the same time, prohibits access. Its Signs “do not close up”, a feature that should be applied for distinguishing them from interpretation phenomena employed within the meaning system. Art is suffused with epiphanies of the “world next to us”, however small they might be. These are not “systemic”, e.g. theological epiphanies, because they remain on the borderline of semiosis and even outside the meta-level, and thus they do not take part in metaphysics but in mysticism at best.
The author considered examples of the occurrence of the “next to world” and its Signs in the Holy Writ (certain epiphanies according to the Elohist Mosaic tradition) and assorted films by Kieślowski from the Decalogue series as well as La double vie de Véronique, examined in greater detail. Examples of poetry by, i.a. Leśmian and T. Różewicz serve an attempt at explaining the difference between the Signs of the “next to world” and other formal functions of the metaphor. An essential feature of the “next to world” Signs appears to be the fact that they “evade” interpretation within the range of the system contrary to the essence of the symbol, which is always ”within” the foundation of every system. Furthermore, the author discussed the hermeneutic determinants of those Signs within the context of, i.e. Sartre’s ontological reservations. Finally, he tried to apply the method using the “next to world” Sign for interpreting texts, mainly of the John Gospel, about Mary/ Magdalene fulfilling the “function of Antigone”. He also indicated the highly mysterious emotional Signs found in the Gospel: the anointing at Bethany, Mary of Magdala weeping next to the empty grave and “turning” in the Garden, and the Noli me tangere... Sign (John 20:17). Their Formgeschichte and “redaction”, however, transmits mysterious Presence. The “absent present” is not a lack nor a gap to be filled, but a force (dynamis) of the Text.
[Drugie przyjście; Problem upadku dziejów]
KONTEKSTY (Quarterly on anthropology, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Warsaw, Issue LXX/2016 No 3-4 (314-315), p. 19-34.
The objective of this study is to indicate the astoundingly topical nature of the evangelical eschatological paradigm (presented in the introduction) by resorting to examples of selected cultural texts. Despite the mass-scale secularisation of our civilisation the extreme experiences present in those texts are sui generis mystical. Some of them testify to epiphanies uncoordinated with traditional orthodoxy and connected not with doctrine but with the Person (of Jesus), whose (second) coming grants them the character of an ultimate event (parousia).
The reflections concern the cultural phenomenon of experiencing the insufficiencies of Tradition. Selected texts served an analysis of the antinomies of nostalgia and dialectics as well as classical decadence (e.g. Baudelaire’s Le voyage) and mysticism, which reveals its features as “empty ideality” (according to the interpretation by H. Friedrich). The decline of history is illustrated by P. Verlaine (Decadence) and A. Blok (The Scythians).
These experiences lead towards a vision of the revolution (in the finale of The Drunken Boat by A. Rimbaud), on the one hand, and towards an astounding revelation of Jesus descending into Hell (an encounter with the “Bridegroom” at the bottom of Hell’s pit), on the other hand. That chocking Parousia finds its approval by corresponding with an Orthodox liturgy reading of the Gospel. A similarity, difficult to explain, of the sceneries of those epiphanies in Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell and Blok’s The Twelve is indicated.
Eschatological epiphanies of Jesus are presented in interpretations by Russian authors: M. Gogol, V. Solovyov, F. Dostoevsky, M. Bulgakov, and B. Pasternak. To that tradition the important contribution is made by the forgotten work by Y. Golosovker: Запись неистребимая/ Сожженный роман (Burned Novel 1928/1991). The parallel and synchronic intuition of Jesus coming again (with deprived or migrating people) is found by A. Blok and G. Apollinaire (Zone).
All these epiphanies are also analysed from the viewpoint of the idea/figure of the “deceiver” and pseudo-prophet - the Antichrist, person of crucial significance in the New Testament.
The study is arguing that Christin - Jewish relation is substantially "internal" and reciprocates theologically in the NT. After tragic I cen. CE experiences, and Canon closed both by Jews and Christians, “history disappeared” (Yerushalmi) transforming into eschatological hermeneutics by Fathers of Talmud and Church, rabbis and eremites. The Orthodox Church liturgy preserves those Jewish theological “schemes”, like Joseph’s epitafion, Zion, “desert”. Some examples presented. The eschatological exegesis creates affinity - "historical criticism" approach seems to be counterproductive; The V. Soloviev eschatological vision is promoted.
Key words: Judaism – Orthodox liturgy, eschatological hermeneutics – exegesis vs historical criticism, V. Soloviev, J. Yerushalmi
Z kolei, w wybranych tekstach literackich odnajdujemy, w moim mniemaniu, inspiracje godne miana „objawienie”. Pokazywana jest ich natura, autonomiczna wobec świadomości autora, a także poza racjonalna zbieżność z postaciami i fenomenami Pisma, jak Jezus, Magdalena, Zmartwychwstanie, koniec wieków. Pokazujemy też wzajemne zbieżności tekstów kultury i liturgicznych (tj. archaicznych literackich), zbieżności które nie dają się wywieść historycznie czy genetycznie – czyli są „objawione” tekstowi. Pokazana jest np. dotąd niewyjaśniona zbieżność epifanii Jezusa Błokowi i Rimbaud’owi, czy też paschalnego hymnu bizantyjskiego i „Padliny” Baudelaire’a.
Dalej, wskazujemy jak głęboko trafne i odkrywcze wnioski teologiczne wynikają np. z dzieł ww. już autorów, a także Tadeusza Różewicza, czy Kieślowskiego i „Imperatywu” Zanussiego. Także z cyklu „legend” o odrzuceniu Chrystusa w finale cywilizacji.
Specjalna refleksja poświęcona jest roli zjawiska symbolu w teologii i kulturze; Zaproponowane są tezy o niezastąpionym znaczeniu odnośnej koncepcji Eliadego, oraz o nowej, odrębnej od symbolu kategorii interpretacyjnej dla tekstów: „nieobecnej obecności” „obok” tekstu.
Pokazane jest, jak kluczowym i zarazem „organicznie” ginącym zjawiskiem religii i kultury jest rytuał. Na przykładach tradycji prawosławnej i teatralnego doświadczenia grupy „Gardzienice” ujęta została nieziszczalność źródłowej i nieodzownej zgodności toposu liturgii i teatru.
Ostatnim kręgiem eksploracji jest tajemnica cielesności, zarówno w aspekcie „niemoty” hermeneutycznej ciała, jak i dramatu słabości i śmierci. Stawiana jest na nowo najbardziej szalona teza wiary – o zmartwychwstaniu w ciele fizycznym (sarx). Także w świetle pełnego dziś nieporozumień zjawiska ikony.
Na koniec stawiamy pytanie o status antropologiczny piękna i miłości, jako toposu wszelkiej sztuki. Dostrzegamy bowiem, wbrew Platonizmowi, nieusuwalny związek zła z tym toposem. Stawiamy tezę hermeneutyczną, iż miłość i piękno pochodzą (narracyjnie) sprzed upadku, są śladem Raju pozostałym w człowieku i kulturze.
Sam tytuł „Strażnik wrót” wzięty jest z proponowanej interpretacji ukrytego wątku „Dekalogu” Krzysztofa Kieślowskiego. Zobaczyłem mianowicie zaskakujące zbieżności motywów tego cyklu filmowego i „Procesu” Kafki - na tle dokonanej przez Kieślowskiego trafnej egzegezy tajemniczego tekstu Pisma, jakim jest Dekalog. Zapisałem to w kontekście spotkań z samym Reżyserem oraz Anną i Tadeuszem Sobolewskimi, co Tadeusz publikował w kierowanym przez siebie wówczas (1990) almanachu „Kino”.