Ri-leggere le Scritture al crocevia di più tradizioni. Per un pluralismo inter-intraculturale: tra simbolo e dialogo

The point of departure of the present study is the possibility of a secular, pluralistic, symbolic, inner reading of the Bible at the crossroads of multiple traditions: in primis Christian and Hebrew traditions (with references to Islamic mysticism) engaged in dialogue with the Orient (above all, the Indian advaita, with references to other Southeast Asian genres of wisdom literature). There is undoubtedly a highly theoretical and speculative dimension to this research: philosophical hermeneutics, Biblical exegesis, literary and stylistic aspects, literary genres, philology, the anthropological and symbolic dimension and other forms of humanistic knowledge are involved. Attention must also be devoted to the paradigm of cultural rights, which lie at the crossroads of various disciplines (law, philosophy, anthropology, political science and economics, theology, etc.) For that matter, the purpose of this project is also highly educational, political (in the sense of polis, of course), formative and cultural (Touraine), and is bound up with the vital turning points of our times, like interreligious and intrareligious dialogue, interculturality and intraculturality, the culture of human rights, the question of peace, pluralism and identity. However, it also hinges on religious phenomena, the «dynamite of the people» (J. Assmann), yet also has an extraordinarily transformational appeal, allowing translation and “translatability” , dialogue and the concentration of values and symbols. All of these are central themes in international cooperation. The Bible is, of course, a profoundly entrance- and performance-enabling work : it calls us to action, to change or to profundity, regardless of what our beliefs or our culture might be. The Biblical message has lay, secular value; it is open to everyone, and imparts wisdom. It is written: Lek leka (Gen 12,1; 22,2), which can also be translated as: «Go to yourself» . In the present doctoral dissertation, hermeneutics is not only explained theoretically and philosophically, but also through exercises in reading, that is to say, robust exegetics of many famous, important passages (e.g., the first three chapters of Genesis, Abraham’s leaving his family (Gen 11-12), pages from Mark where Christ embraces children, etc.) The theme of the initiatory voyage, of divine names, of Panikkar’s cosmotheandric intuition, is researched in many Biblical passages. The cultural and educational role of the Bible in the schools and in education is also highly significant. More attention should be devoted to the relationship between the Bible and human and cultural rights. Starting with the absence of the Bible as the «Great Code» of Western Civilization in the Italian schools, the present study shows how access to such a fundamental work is truly a cultural right in the hermeneutic methods described here.