Thanks for your kind comment, Amanda. And may I say what a pleasure it is to be addressing my first amateur xylophonist on Substack. Good vibes for the zest quest.
The ancient rhetorician Longinus was similarly impressed by the vocal force of God as portrayed in scripture. This is a passage from his book, taken from G.M.A. Grube’s 1957 translation: “In this manner also the lawgiver of the Jews, no ordinary man, since he recognized and expressed divine power according to its worth, expressed this power clearly when he wrote at the beginning of his Laws: ‘And God said,’ (What?) ‘Let there be light; and there was light. Let there be land; and there was land.’” (Longinus, “On the Sublime” 9.9)
Thanks Daniel. Yes, it makes me very cautious around words. I fear our own will be measured against this standard of sublime: was our voice in this world one of creation or destruction, healing or harm, light or darkness?
This is so beautifully written. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for your kind comment, Amanda. And may I say what a pleasure it is to be addressing my first amateur xylophonist on Substack. Good vibes for the zest quest.
The ancient rhetorician Longinus was similarly impressed by the vocal force of God as portrayed in scripture. This is a passage from his book, taken from G.M.A. Grube’s 1957 translation: “In this manner also the lawgiver of the Jews, no ordinary man, since he recognized and expressed divine power according to its worth, expressed this power clearly when he wrote at the beginning of his Laws: ‘And God said,’ (What?) ‘Let there be light; and there was light. Let there be land; and there was land.’” (Longinus, “On the Sublime” 9.9)
Thanks Daniel. Yes, it makes me very cautious around words. I fear our own will be measured against this standard of sublime: was our voice in this world one of creation or destruction, healing or harm, light or darkness?