The Textualization of the Experience of Transcendence in Erik Varden’s Essay on Remembrance

Abstract

Drawing on Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutic approach, particularly his insights into religious language and the productive imagination, this article examines the manifestation of transcendence in the book by Norwegian Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, titled “The Shattering of Loneliness: On Christian Remembrance”. In this theological essay, the author devotes considerable attention to the exegesis of the biblical commandment to remember. This is supplemented by personal reflections, intertextual references from the fields of literature, art, and history, and linguistic observations. The connections and differences between the Bible and religious autobiographical texts become apparent in the representation of experiences of transcendence. An analysis of examples of heuristic language (metaphors, symbols, hagiographic narratives, or biblical narratives) reveals how biblical discourse acquires a unique character within an autobiographical text. Due to its distinctive poetics, E. Varden’s work retains its literary quality and stimulates the reader’s productive imagination. The distinctive features of narrative identity become apparent when one questions the limits of the genre and the possibilities of capturing existential changes through language. It is suggested that the experience of transcendence be understood not as a one-time event, but as a process. The article proposes the hypothesis that the hermeneutic approach provides tools for characterizing the reality of E. Varden’s text as multilayered. This perspective helps explain why and how a literary work can serve as a compelling testimony of faith. The author’s daily experience of God’s presence is what makes this theological essay so unique.