"I am a king of ignorance..."



who chose this cover?

Here is a passage from Henry Corbin;  “Le paradoxe du monothèisme,” in Le Paradoxe du Monothèisme. Paris: Ed. de l'Herne (Le Livre de Poche), 1981, 69-70.

I think this is my translation, I really don't remember:

This pre-eminence of visionary clairvoyance may even render us clairvoyant regarding a prophetic symbol that André Neher in his book entitled The Exile of the Word [1] urges us to understand in an entirely different manner: before the two statues on the southern façade of the Strasburg Cathedral, he writes, more than one Christian has been struck by the fascinating beauty of the Synagoga, of this surprisingly young woman: a band over her eyes prevents her from seeing, and she has most certainly heard nothing and hears nothing, as she pursues a dream whose silence speaks volumes more than the eloquent expression of the Ecclesia. The band over the young woman's eyes alerts us that her vision is beyond vision. So emphatic is the certitude of this visionary clairvoyance that it made its presence felt to a German poet, a Christian and theologian of our times. André Neher reports his testimony. The poet Albrecht Goes believed that in a metaphysical dimension the Synagoga was not only more beautiful but also more truthful than the exoteric Ecclesia. Which prompts him to declare: Sie ist's, die sieht :"It is She who sees."

Monday of Pentecost
7 June 1976

[1] André Neher, L’Exile de la Parole, Paris, Le Seuil, 1970, p. 50.

I never found a place to put this little passage. So here it is. Along with the illustrations that I sought out some years ago. Synagoga and Ecclesia from Strasbourg...










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