Time&Eternity

[1]
No Concept of
Time without Narrated Time
Narrated Time in Hymns
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Motivation—Why Hymns?
This study considers the notion that time is accessible to human beings
only to the extent that it is articulated in narrative form. My decision has
been influenced by the theory of Paul Ricoeur, that appropriate talk of time
cannot occur in direct discourse. It must instead be conveyed by the indirect
discourse of narrative. 1 According to Ricoeur, each attempt to analyze
time directly only multiplies the problems that occur anyway. For this reason,
there is no conception of time without narrated time. 2 Narrative understanding
deserves precedence over narratological rationality. 3 Ricoeur
compares this narrative understanding to a picnic to which the author contributes
the words, while the reader contributes the meaning. 4 In this way,
the narrative can attain its highest degree of effectiveness: The readers find a
solution to which they themselves must find the suitable questions. 5 Resorting
to narrative is thus not a simplifying reduction. Quite to the contrary, it
is necessary to do justice precisely to the complex difficulties related to the
problematic nature of time. 6
If Ricoeur’s theory is correct, namely, that the poetics of narrative unite
that which speculative philosophy separates, then it should be reasonable to
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