S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 1 4 9 Rastislav Nemec 1 Introduction The history of mankind could simply be called the history of the battle between text and image. By this we mean neither the ancient apprehension of scripture expressed by Plato that can be found in Phaedrus (1951, 157), where Plato develops the thesis that scripture (text) kills our memory, nor the culture of image promoted by the contemporary digital era, which pushes the phenomenon of the printed book aside. When we talk about the battle between text and image, we have in mind a wider horizon: the ceaseless battle of attraction of the concrete and validity of the universal, the intensity of image and the abstraction of scripture. Their duel reminds us of the mythological couple Hermes and Hestia. Hermes – a god reaping the full benefits of life and space, and Hestia – a goddess of the family hearth, symbolizing reliability and devotion, represent two symbols of every reading (Vernant 2006, 10). There is closeness and intimacy on the one hand and strangeness and remoteness on the other. Comprehension and incomprehension – these two basic points of departure guide our reading. Because the less we understand the text, the more we are drawn to read it. About the author Prof. PhDr. Rastislav Nemec, PhD., serves as a Professor of Systematic Philosophy and a Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Theology, Trnava University. His professional interests include medieval philosophy of language (Buridan, Wodeham, Ockham) and medieval political theories (Marsilius of Padua, Ockham). He has co-edited several translations of medieval Latin texts and authored monographs on the late Middle Ages. His email contact is rastislav.nemec@truni.sk. ← ← Works of Hugh of St. Victor
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