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Autor: Voegelin, Eric Buch: The World of the Polis Titel: The World of the Polis Stichwort: Heraklit, Paulus: Glaube (pistis), Hoffnung (elpis) Kurzinhalt: The language of Heraclitus is very close to the symbolism of Pauline Christianity; Textausschnitt: 300a The language of Heraclitus is very close to the symbolism of Pauline Christianity. Love, hope, and faith are the orienting forces in the soul; the invisible attunement is hard to find unless it is hoped for; and the divine escapes being known unless we have faith. We are forcibly reminded of Heb. 11:1: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the proof of things unseen." There is no reason to diminish the importance of such parallels; they should be given full weight (although this is rarely done) in appraising the length of preparation for the irruption of transcendental reality in Christianity, as well as the historical momentum that the life of the soul had gathered when it debouched into the experience of Revelation. On the other hand, the parallels should not be overrated. Heraclitus is far from being an anima naturaliter Christiana. The exploration of the soul in the Christian direction is one strand in his far-flung philosophizing; and it is deeply embedded in the experiences of infinite flux and cosmic cycles. There is no touch of Revelation in his work; the divine is hidden indeed and does not reveal itself clearly in the soul. "The Lord at Delphi neither speaks nor conceals; he rather gives a sign" (B 93). And when he manifests himself through the word, he uses the language of the oracle: "The Sibyl with raving mouth, uttering mirthless and unadorned and unscented sounds, reaches through a thousand years with her voice because it is full of the God" (B 92). The oracular form, deliberately adopted by Heraclitus as most suitable for a human utterance that is full of the God, carries his wisdom through the ages. This form is his achievement and his limit; it lies about halfway between the myth of the poets and the Platonic myth of the soul.1 (Fs) (notabene) ____________________________ |