The More We Know, the Less We Understand

I’m not equipped by training or temperament to grasp all of what David Bentley Hart writes about, but he does make me think! His translation of The New Testament is a gem, and I very much appreciate this conclusion of his article “Spirits, Souls… Tunics?” from Church Life Journal:

… the more we know of the intellectual and spiritual world in which Christianity and its scriptures took shape, the more perplexing the language and imagery of the texts become.

The more successful we are in departing from the prejudices and preconceptions of the present and in making our way back into that age, the more we find ourselves confused by the variety, complexity, and sheer wildness of its vision of reality. The more we know, the less we understand; and, conversely, the more we understand, the more we discover what we do not know. And so, after two millennia of theological and hermeneutical tradition–and, indeed, to a very great extent, because of tradition–we find ourselves ever anew confronted by these texts as mysteries yet to be penetrated . . . worlds yet to be discovered.

Good stuff!

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