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~ UNIVERSAL "MAN" ~
'Hermeneutics As Politics'


Allegoresis finds its origin,
on most current accounts,
in the need to 'update' mythological texts
no longer culturally applicable.

The hypothesis
to be advanced in these myDiStories is
that the attractions of allegory as a mode of reading
derive not from a need to apply ancient texts
which are problematic
but rather from a profound yearning for univocity,
a univocity which is only guaranteed
by the positing of a spiritual meaning
for language prior to its expression
in embodied speech.

In this sense,
allegorical interpretation is only a species
of general European phallogocentric notions of meaning,
including even dualism of the signifier and the signified;
any notion of interpretation
which depends on a prior and priviliged pairing
of signifiers and signifieds
is allegorical.

It follows from this
that the opposite of allegorical interpretation
is not literal interpretation
but rather midrashic reading
as the very refusal of both univocity
and the very existence
of a signified which subsists above, beyond,
or behind the signifier.

~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Common
to the phallos and the logos
in the formation of phallogocentrism
and thus of allegoresis
is the desire for the One,
for univocity in interpretation
as well as in ontology.

It is possible
to document the origins and development
of this cultural motif in Greece
and the contestation of this 'fear of diversity'
within Greek culture,
even, for instance,
within Plato
himself.

It
seems nevertheless
the case that
in the early centuries of our era
it is the One rather than the many
that attracts thinkers.

In any case,
Paul should be seen on my view
as but one instance in the working out
of a cultural problematic set by the Greeks,
not as the representative of a positive
Greek idea.

Paul is, of course,
a particularly interesting case
both because of his synthesis of Greek
and Hebrew cultures
and because of his decisive influence on
the later history
of Europe.

~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The same cultural motives
that produce allegoresis
- logocentrism -
as the primary mode of interpretation
in Europe
produce the Universal Suject
as a Christian male.

In both cases
the passion for univocity
seekt to suppress a difference,
whether that difference be the signifier,
women,
or the Jews.

This cultural theme
can be formulated as
follows.

Sameness
is valued above difference,
and this valuing undergirds
the entire mimetic
relationship ...

This treatment of difference
has profound implications for processes
of social formation,
because it suggests that difference
must be subversive
of unity, harmony,
and order.

For Origen,
that consummate allegorist,
differentiation within the human species
subverted primal
perfection.

The quintessentially 'different' people for Paul
were Jews and women.

It is no accident, then,
that the discourses of misogyny and anti-Judaism
are profoundly implicated in projects
of allegorical reading
of the Bible.

~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The extraordinary alliance
between hatred of Jews and hatred of women
has been much remarked.

Throughout
the history of Christian Europe
Jews and women have been vilified
in many of the same terms.

The (male) Jewish body
has been feminized:
male Jews menstruate in the folklore
of much of Europe,
and circumcision has been repeatedly blamed
for the femaleness (weakness, passivity)
of the Jew.

In these myDiStories
I seek to explain the origins of western anti-Jadaism
and misogyny
in the realm of a metalinguistic practice,
the practice of allegorical interpretation,
which I take to be
not a local intervention in the meaning of texts
but a global discourse on the meaning of language
and the human body
and especially on human
difference.

The desire for univocity
manifested by allegoresis
and frustrated by the material, embodied signifier
is the same Hellenistic search for univocity
which the Universal Subject disembodies forth
and which is frustrated by women and Jews
as the embodied signifiers
of difference.

~@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we came
out of the palace of Pontius Pilate,
there was a man, Siomon by name, a Cyrene,
who was chosen to bear my cross.
Now, I knew why they had jeered at me
when I had stood before them
with no clothes.
For I was no longer the carpenter
who worked each day in Galilee,
and with vigor.
Naked, what was left to me now
but my bones?
And they laughed and again they
called me
King of the Jews.

We came
to a place called Golgotha,
where we were followed by many women
who lamented after me.
Some of my followers had returned,
and these women were first among them
and they kept crying out
as if they were feeling my pain
before I would
suffer it.

I had not sought
to save the world through the efforts of women.
Only through the efforts of men.
Now,
if my throat was dry,
this much I could say aloud:
"Daughters of Jerusalem,
weeo not for me but for your children.
The days are coming in which they shall say,
'Blessed are the barren,
for the wombs that never bore
and the breasts which never
gave suck.'"

I thought
of the fig tree I had cursed
and added silently:
For that, too, I ask forgiveness.
And I thought of my days as a carpenter,
when I used to pray that a good piece of wood
not split.

In the crowd,
I saw my mother.
Soon I would be torn from her.
Now, and too late, I understood her love.
I was a gift from the Lord, and so,
in her awe of me,
she had contended with all I did.
For to live constantly in awe is like
not knowing one's own child.
But in this hour, she was in great pain for me.
I belnged to my mother again.
Beside her was standing my disciple Timothy,
so I said to Miryam,
"Do not cry. I am returning to my Father.
Woman, behold thy son."
And to him I said, "Here is your mother."
He nodded.
He would take her into his house.
Of all my disciples, he was the one
to take care of her,
for he had a patient and
generous heart.

Not far from my mother,
I saw Miryam Magdalene.
I said to her (and it was at odds
with what I had said to the daughters
of Jerusalem, but still I whispered):
"Take hope. Have children.
For G*D has forgiven you."

On the hill of Golgotha there would be
with me two thieves.
Indeed, they had already been nailed
to their crosses.
Now they were raised.
Even as they screamed in pain,
Pontius Pilate approached.
He looked at the sign tied around my neck,
which said:
"Yesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."
Most of the priests from the Temple had chosen
not to remain,
but of those still present, one said to Pilate,
"That should not read 'King of the Jews.'
Whatever he said means little.
One does not become a king by saying it."

Pilate replied: "What is written is written."

Again, I could understand his purpose.
If, in years to come, they would speak of me
as having been the King of the Jews,
then Pontius Pilate would be known as
one of the first to agree.
After all, he had allowed me to wear
such a title to my death.
And if I were not to be seen in the future
as any kind of king,
then he would be admired for his power
of ridicule.
By one road or the other, he was a good Roman.
It took a quick mind to benefit from conclusions
when they were opposite each other.
I was learning how these Romans had conquered
so much of the world,
but I was learning too late.

The soldiers ked me to a cross lying
on the ground.
The wood was crude, and nailed together
with slovenly blows of the hammer.
It offended that it had been built so poorly,
but in any case they removed my robe
and made me lie down upon the cross
and stretch out my arms.

I took a breath
and the morning was dark.
Again I was alone and naked
but for my loincloth.

~
#
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engel
26 okt 2004 - bewerkt op 06 feb 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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