Isaiah Berlin’s book on Hamann is lively engaging, but Berlin doesn’t get Hamann. For instance: “Hamann’s constantly repeated point is that revelation is direct contact between one spirit and another, God and ourselves.”
Not. The opposite is the case: His constantly repeated point is that God speaks to the creature through the creature (as Berlin earlier recognizes). It’s the bid for “direct contact” that Hamann detests, because it bypasses Scripture, history, bodies, and all the rest of empirical creation.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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