Genesis of the Biblical Narrative Through the Prism of P. Ricoeur’s Philosophical Hermeneutics

Abstract

The article is devoted to a little-studied question in Orthodox biblical hermeneutics related to the problem of the genesis of the biblical narrative. What general laws govern the emergence of the narrative, including the narration of the events of sacred history? It is proposed to consider this topic using the conceptual and terminological apparatus of philosophical hermeneutics in its cognitive aspect. To do this, the author refers to the monograph Paul Ricoeur’s «Time and Story», in which the French thinker describes the basic principles of the interaction of human consciousness and physical reality, as a result of which a narrative appears. The article pays special attention to how P. Ricoeur, relying on the treatise St. Augustine’s «Confession» analyzes the problem of time and its perception by man. The author also describes how P. Ricoeur, drawing on Aristotle’s treatise «Poetics», borrows elements of the ancient philosopher’s teaching about mythos (intrigue) and mimēsis (creative imitation). Finally, the article contains a description of the synthesis that P. Ricoeur carries out within the framework of his own theoretical model in order to show exactly how time, man and God interact in the process of the emergence of a narrative. According to the author of the article, the conclusions reached by P. Ricoeur are of a fun- damental nature, and can be productively used within the framework of biblical hermeneutics.