Introduction

Desmond Manderson

pp. 3-17

in: Desmond Manderson (ed), Essays on Levinas and law, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

Abstract

as the Torah has it — "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." But "in the beginning was the Word" says the Gospel according to John.¹ It is a legalistic revision of the story of origins which found favour with those engaged in the development of Christian institutions, and sought to give them an empirical and unchallengeable foundation. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This is all very well. But an institution, whether a legal system or a church, even if inspired by some transcendental insight, would rather that such a force did not continually destabilize or undermine its authority. God has a tendency to come between commanders and subjects. Law and religion would both rather we just read the Words and do as we"re told.