The topic of time is central to Levinas's philosophy. By examining aspects of the Biblical stories of Abraham and Moses compared with Greek myths, mainly that of Cronos devouring his children, this paper aims to show that Levinas's view of time, though certainly indebted to the Greek (i.e. philosophical) tradition, contains traces of Biblical experiences. Moreover, Levinas's interpretation of time will serve as a concrete demonstration of the way the Jewish experience enables Levinas to express his criticism of the philosophical‐Greek (...) tradition. (shrink)

Levinas Faces Biblical Figures captures the drama of the encounter between a great philosopher and a text of primary importance. The book considers the ways in which Levinas's thoughts can open up the biblical text to requestioning, and how the biblical text can inform our reading of Levinas.

An exhaustive look at Levinas's primary texts, both his philosophical writings and writings on Judaism, that brings together Levinas's various perspectives on time; concludes that we can extract a coherent and consistent conception of time from Levinas's thought, one that is distinctly political. Thus, this study elucidates Levinas's claim that time is actually constituted via social relationships"--Provided by publisher.