Words and hte Word

Just as a good sermon will lead its listeners beyond appreciation of a preachers' learning or eloquence to simple apprehension of the “thing” itself, the res of the celebrated mystery, the presence of the Lord, its consequences for our lives, so this book both opens a door into our literary inheritance and edges us again and again towards the universal questions: What is literature? What is the relationship of the great literary works of humanity—the “secular Scriptures”—to the Word and words of Christianity and its Jewish antecedent? How might we enter into this literary world, and integrate our human culture with our Christian faith? How might a lectio humana enrich our lectio divina, and vice versa? How might I finally educate myself?