The Word of God will not be content to be just one word among many. "So says the Lord...," must the only word, the defining word, the word which clarifies the world to us and us to ourselves.
Erich Auerbach writes thusly:
The world of the Scripture stories is not satisfied with claiming to be a historically true reality--it insists that it is the only real world.... Al other scenes, issues, and ordinances have nor right to appear independently of it, and it is promised that all of them, the history of all mankind, will be given their due place within its frame, will be subordinated to it. The Scripture stories do not, like Homer's court our favor, they do not flatter us that they may please us and enchant us--they seek to subject us, and if we refuse to be subjected we are rebels.Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature
Erich Auerbach
Princeton University Press; 50 Anv edition (April 7, 2003)
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