Language and Meaning in Sacred Texts: Transcendence, Immanence, and Divine Concealment in Jewish Thought
Journal of Religion and Theology May 29, 2025 Julian Ungar-Sargon 1 citation
Divine revelation in Jewish textual traditions emerges not from the text alone but from the dialectic between immanence and transcendence, law and mystical yearning. This article examines how interpretive frameworks navigate this paradox by comparing the intellectual approach of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, the hermeneutics of religious passion and restraint developed by the Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin), and the contemporary philosophical perspectives of Elliot Wolfson, alongside cross-cultural insights from Slavoj Žižek, Moshe Idel, Allan Nadler, and Simone Weil. The analysis illuminates tensions between transcendence and immanence, nomian structure and religious enthusiasm, and the limits of religious language in textual engagement.