140 - The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion

The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion
By Northrop Frye
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1991. 88 pages. $10.95.

One of the most celebrated literary figures of the twentieth century, Northrop Frye was also a United Church of Canada minister. In these lectures, given shortly before his death at age 78, Frye argues eloquently for a type of reading that begins from what he calls "metaphorical literalism," as opposed to the literal-descriptive view embraced by historical criticism. When the Bible is historically accurate, he remarks, it is only accidentally so. Reporting was not of the slightest interest to its writers. They had a story that could only be told by myth and metaphor; what they wrote became a source of vision rather than historical certitude. The power of the Bible's language lies in its capacity to detach us from the world of facts and demonstrations, which become idols when made objects of trust and reverence. "Demonic literalism seeks conquest by paralyzing argument," he writes. But the Bible is polysemous, having many levels of meaning. It is precisely Scripture's function to rescue us from the single vision of the natural world and enable us to perceive spiritual reality.

Walter Wink,
Auburn Theological Seminary,
New York, N.Y.