圣经文学主题指引

章节摘录

　　Some of these writers were influenced by the discovery of the savage cultures thatJoseph Conrad wrote of so powerfully in his Heart of Darkness （1902）. In this voy-age into the darkness of the African continent and the human heart, Conrad revealsthe innate desire to dominate and destroy. The central figure in the story, Kurtz,establishes himself as a god with the natives and reduces them to slavery as he bru-tally raids the area in search of ivory. His hut is surrounded by severed heads thatsuggest his vicious techniques for control. This journey into evil is often interpretedas a statement of specific evils of the time, including the colonization of third-worldcountries by the European powers. Scenes of temptation are the basic stuff of lit-erature. The will to satisfy the ego or the appetites invariably clashes with the clearunderstanding of the will of God for the person.　 In Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky presents a brilliant psychological analysisof the mind of a man determined to transgress the law. We have Raskolnikov, a brightyoung university student who is fixated on the idea that certain exceptional menhave the right to make their own laws, to kill, to steal, to do as they choose. Napoleonis his model, a man who killed vast numbers of people and yet is celebrated as a hero,not a murderer. Assuming he is one such exceptional man, Raskolnikov. chooses apawnbroker to murder and rob, plotting the action precisely. He carries it out in afeverish, compulsive burst of activity, finding several problems along the way, includ-ing the sudden entrance of the pawnbrokers sister. He takes an axe along under hiscoat, kills both women in a bloody scene, and escapes without being noticed. Fromthat point to the end of the book, he deals with his guilt and confusion: he is unableeven to count the money he has stolen and hides the bag of loot rather than using itfor the purposes he intended. He becomes obsessive about discovering what othersknow about the crime, acts suspiciously when questioned by the police, comes closeto admitting his guilt to several people.　 He finally chooses to tell the whole story to a young woman, a prostitute he hascome to adore as a kind of saint, Sonia. She is horrified, but does not turn against him.She insists he must repent that he has sinned by shedding blood, regardless of hisinsistence that the old woman was nothing but a "louse," a worthless creature. Soniatells him he must go the police, confess, and expiate his sin. She promises to leave herlife of prostitution, take the money she has suddenly acquired by a gift, and go withhim if he is sent to Siberia.

书籍目录

IntroductionCreationEarthly ParadiseNatureAnimals and HumansTemptation and SinGod's Love, Humans' ResponseFriends and FamilyLove and MarriageThe HeroWomen as HeroesThe Journey of LifeSlavery and FreedomWarGood PeopleJusticeGovernment and PoliticsPredestination and Free WillTruthDeath and the AfterlifeLast DaysSelected BibliographyIndex

作者简介

《圣经文学主题指引》内容简介：The other strong thread of influence in Western thought is Hellenism, whichstrongly contrasts with Hebraism. For this reason, I have included examples of well-known Greek stories and ideas to contrast the scriptural ones, showing the differencesin tastes, morality, theology, and activity. This is particularly important in the studyof the hero figure. The Greeks loved the beautiful body as well as the cultured mind.The Hebrews believed that faith in God was the beginning of wisdom and of virtue.Annearance is seldom mentioned in Bible stories.

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