Edwards Michael. On the Perpetual Strangeness of the Bible

University of Virginia Press, 2023. — 136 p.On the Perpetual Strangeness of the Bible (Richard E. Myers Lectures: Presented by University Baptist Church, Charlottesville) is an unusual book, both in its blend of passion and elegance in presentation, and in its rigorous attention to the way in which the biblical text insists upon the fact that we cannot read intelligently without changing our entire imaginative and moral world. At once severe and enriching, it opens up a style of approaching the Bible that is both deep-rooted in traditional practice and exhilaratingly fresh. A wonderful and welcome meditation. A remarkable work of beauty, literary finesse, theological insight, and rich wisdom. I will keep thinking about this book for a long time to come.The language of the Bible can be beautiful but profoundly elusive, possessing a strangeness that only deepens the committed reader’s sense of its impenetrability. Based on the 2022 Richard E. Myers lectures given by renowned literary scholar Michael Edwards―the first Englishman ever elected to the Académie française―this book offers a close reading of the Bible itself, directing attention to the text rather than to commentaries or to ostensible lessons to be discovered by paraphrase.
Edwards explores the apparently simple instruction in Proverbs to eat honey and reveals unexpected complexity. He sounds the unfathomable depths of St. Paul’s revelation that the Christian has "died" and yet now lives in Christ―and goes on to ask what it would mean to take the awesome expression "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" seriously. Three final meditations complete the movement by scrutinizing the visionary world of Revelation: the riddle of the work’s composition, of its images, and of the enigmatic time in which its events occur. Sir Michael Edwards is Honorary Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge, Professor Emeritus at the Collège de France, and a member of the Académie française.ContentsAcknowledgments
Preliminary
On Eating Honey
Paul on Life and Death
Heaven Is Here
Seeing Revelation: The Writing
Seeing Revelation: The Images
Seeing Revelation: The Timing
Scripture Index