Cytaty

Eden is described as a mountain or mountaintop — this can be deduced from the fact that all four primary rivers of the earth (from an Israelite perspective) flow out from Eden. That would make Eden the highest point of the known world, and this accords with Ezekiel’s reference to Eden as „the mountain of God” (Ezek 28:14, 16) and a great deal of ancient Near Eastern iconography and textual evidence for the belief in a primordial divine garden on the top of the „cosmic mountain” or central mountain of the world.

Brant James Pitre, John Bergsma, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament Kindle Edition, Ignatius Press, 2018

Dated to 9 BC, the Greek inscription describes Augustus as „saviour,” „god,” and the birth as „the beginning of the good news (euaggelia).” Scholars propose that the Christian appropriation of the term „gospel” (euaggelion) is meant to counter the imperial use.

Laurie Brink, O.P., Biblical History and Archeology: New Testament, in The Catholic Study Bible, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2016

God should not be experienced as a wholly etheral panacea but as a mysterious, accompanying presence that helps us to make sense of the bewildering circumstances of our life on earth.

Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis, Vintage, 2011

Religious people often speak of „faith” as thought it were a matter of conserving the old and traditional; they claim that it gives them absolute certainty and is not compatible with doubt. But Genesis shows that in fact faith began by demanding a radical break with the past and facing the terrors and enigmas of the unknown.

Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis, Vintage, 2011

Today we see too much strident certainty in both the religious and the secular spheres. Instead of quoting the Bible in order to denigrate homosexuals, liberals or women priests, we could recall Agustine’s rule of faith: an exegete must always seek the most charitable interpretation of a text. Instead of using a biblical passage to back up a bygone orthodoxy, modern hermeneutics could bear in mind the original meaning of midrash: ‚to go in search of’. Exegesis is a quest for something new. Buber said that each reader should stand before the Bible as Moses stood before the burning bush, listening intently and preparing for a revelation that will force him or her to lay aside former preconceptions.

Karen Armstrong, The Bible: A Biography, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007

Byt one exasperated journalist called for a moratorium on the use of „Hallelujah” on film and TV soundtracks. ‚I kind of feel the same way,’ said Leonard in CBC TV interview. ‚I think it’s a good song, but too many people sing it.’ He couldn’t help mentioning that there was also ‚a mild sense of revenge that arose in my heart’ when he recalled that his American record label had refused to release it. ‚They didn’t think it was good enough.’

Sylvie Simmons, I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, Vintage Digital, 2012

The seed of the song [‚Dance Me To The End Of Love’] was something Leonard had read about an orchestra of inmates in a concentration camp, who were forced by the Nazis to play as their fellow prisoners were marched off to the gas chambers. As a testimonial to Leonard’s way with words and romantic melody, it would go on to become a popular song at weddings.

Sylvie Simmons, I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, Vintage Digital, 2012

Since J and P offer mutually exclusive version of the creative process, we are obviously not intended to see either as historically accurate in our modern sense. Both are writing myth and fiction. In our rational, scientific culture, we tend to look askance at this type of narrative. A „myth” in popular parlance is something that is not true; a „fiction” is associated with deceit and pretense. But in the premodern world, myth was regarded as a form of psychology, which charted the inner world. In the same way, fiction can often express a truth which it is impossible to discern in the confusion of our daily lives. […] Since religion is also concerned with the quest for meaning amid the chaos of mundane existence, fiction can be more useful to the spiritual life than a purely historical narrative.

Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis, Vintage, 2011

Rabbi Mordecai Finley (whom Leonard would come to know later) remembers that one day, after synagogue, he said to Leonard, ‚So many of your poems have the feel of Jewish liturgy. Did you consciously write something liturgical?’ Finley continues, ‚He said, „That’s what I thought I was always writing, liturgy,” meaning, something out of the heart that, in recitation, you’re brought to a deeper place. […]’

Sylvie Simmons, I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, Vintage Digital, 2012

Human beings did not own the world; they could not ransack its treasures indiscriminately. They were mere stewards, an insight that would be reinforced by the prescriptions of the Law of Moses and that has special relevance today, when humans greed and carelessness have endangered the planet.

Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis, Vintage, 2011