C21: Professor searches for meaning in Biblical text

"It is not true because it is in the Bible, it is in the Bible because it is true." With these words, Roger Burgraeve, from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, began to address "The Talmudic Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas as Inspiration for Reading the Bible." The lecture, presented by the Lonergan Workshop as part of the Church in the 21st Century lecture series, explored the ideas espoused by Levinas, described by professor Fred Lawrence as "one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century from France."

"Burgraeve is a leading exponent of Levinas' thought, who as a Catholic priest in the Society of Don Bosco, has felt compelled to learn this biblical aspect of Levinas' thought," said Lawrence, who is also the director of the Lonergan Workshop, in an e-mail.

Giving some background information on Levinas himself, Lawrence said philosophizing about people's responsibility to themselves and each other was one of Levinas' focal points.

"Levinas meditated all his life on the Hebrew Scriptures within the framework of the Talmud, a centuries-old set of commentaries on the scriptures," he said. "It [Levinas' thought] provides a way of thinking and reading the Bible that is quite living and mindful, which is something that our church could always use more of."

Burgraeve clarified his opening statement by explaining that although there are several parts of the Bible that appear historically inaccurate, they were put there for a reason.

The Talmudic philosophy encourages people to approach the Bible in an inquisitive way. Levinas encouraged people to look for the reasons why certain facts were placed in the Bible, because they usually led to a lesson of some sort. "Without readers or interpretation of the reader, there is no Bible," said Burgraeve. "There is the thing, but it has no meaning."

Burgraeve explained that Levinas' philosophy does not concentrate on specific details; instead, he leaves things on a more philosophical level and searches for deeper meaning. Citing the five books of Moses as an example, Burgraeve pointed out that clearly Moses is not the author of these five books, but this is unimportant.

What is important about this fact is to ask why Moses would be attributed as the author. By examining this question in a transhistorical way, greater understanding about why this fact would have been included and the context surrounding its publication will be realized.

"The facts are not just facts," said Burgraeve. According to Levinas' Talmudic philosophy, "We look through the first level of meaning to the poetic meaning. When it doesn't fit, we are troubled and we ask questions."

Burgraeve discussed that asking questions causes one to read the Bible in a more critical manner, which leads to greater understanding. Using the events of Genesis I as an example, Burgraeve demonstrated the practical implementation of Levinas' philosophy. "These narratives are philosophical oils," he said.

Burgraeve then addressed the Christian responsibility to take care of God's other creatures on earth.

"We are made responsible in spite of ourselves. The human being is the last to be created, but the first to be punished."

He said that this is strange because we are provoked to be responsible for something that we did not make or create. "We received it, but we don't know how to take care of it."

To learn how to be responsible, we must search for answerability through reading the Bible in the way that Levinas encouraged through his Talmudic philosophy.

In closing, Burgraeve pointed out that after a great deal of chaos in creating the earth, God demanded that there be light on earth and so there was light. He added that if one does what one has to do, eventually that will lead to understanding in the same way that light came at the end of chaos.