Definitions HQ

A Book (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the prophetic kind carries the disputed land within it more deeply than the geological strata of its depths.

A Book (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠has lost its inspired message no longer dirties the hands that touch it, and can fall without danger into anyone's hands.

A Book (n.) gathers ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠past and future into the presence of a thing between two covers — the being of beings gathered into a being.

A Book (n.) opens ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the gates of life, life extending beyond it but having to pass through it, and real life beginning by no longer being a book.

A Book (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠cannot be read without commenting on it can be commented on only in light of new facts, so the Scriptures grow with a holy history that is not over.

A Book (n.) makes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠us beings-toward-the-book and not only beings-in-the-world, and it is no tool at hand, for my relation to it is not the one I have with the hammer or the telephone.

A Book (n.) wards ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠off idolatry by its very essence as a book — by the permanent reading, interpretation and reinterpretation it demands.

A Book (n.) before ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠becoming a document is perhaps the way the said lays itself open to exegesis — where meaning, immobilized in the characters, already tears the texture that holds it.

Book (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠are the true ones are embers still glowing beneath the ashes, the flame traversing History without burning in it and illuminating whoever breathes on it, for it is a question of breath.

A Book (n.) points ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠beyond itself — this rectangular, solid opacity becomes a book only by bearing my thought toward what is absent: the author who writes, the readers who read, the shelves that store.

A Book (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠interrupted discourse catching up with its own breaks — yet books have their fate: they call for other books, prefaces and forewords, and end up interpreted in a saying distinct from the said.