‘The Oracle of God Within’: Human Nature and Personal Faith in the Epilogue to Clarel and Melville’s Annotated Bible
Pertinent to the religion of the heart espoused in Melville’s Clarel and in his annotated Bible is a heretofore unexplored exegesis of Proverbs 4:23, in an 1849 issue of the New York Christian Inquirer. That commentary invites a Unitarian reading of faith in the Epilogue to Clarel and stands to deli...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2014
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| In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2014, Volume: 28, Issue: 4, Pages: 425-437 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Pertinent to the religion of the heart espoused in Melville’s Clarel and in his annotated Bible is a heretofore unexplored exegesis of Proverbs 4:23, in an 1849 issue of the New York Christian Inquirer. That commentary invites a Unitarian reading of faith in the Epilogue to Clarel and stands to delineate a key liberal-Christian dimension of Melville’s religious outlook. The Christian Inquirer, a Unitarian newspaper likely known to Melville, rested the verity of personal faith on the imminence of divine love within the heart, foreshadowing the nearly typological alignment of Clarel’s love for the Jewess Ruth and his quest for love in Christ. A similar pairing of private faith and the divine features of human nature, implying the imminence of divine love within the human heart, unites otherwise disparate annotations in a Bible owned by Melville, intimating a Unitarian basis for his most personal will to believe. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frt033 |