Shaping Memory by Mimeses: A Living Tradition, par Tia Jamir, vol. 3
Citer l’article : Tia Jamir, « Shaping Memory by Mimeses: A Living Tradition », Revue Ouvertures vol 3, p. 131-143.
Résumé :
The Christian intellectual tradition and faith are inescapably historical. The rise of normative Christianity and the Christian rhetoric of authenticity have been perceptively studied from a variety of angles in recent scholarship. One of the ways of looking into the rise of Christian way of life is by tracing exemplars. This concept, known as mimeses is not about the history of the reception of a particular theology and/or philosophy. Instead, it is about how some key exemplars used the Pauline or Petrine corpus along or other Scriptures along with the classical Paideia in order to define themselves over against other groups. This deals with the cult of exempla, authorizing the author, and genealogical demarcation in creating social boundaries to forge an identity. In this context, a teacher’s rhetoric was inextricably bound to the example set by the teacher’s behavior, and it is therefore impossible to understand one without the other. In this construction of identity, the concepts of exempla, imitatio, and the rule of faith are important themes for the Apostles. Indeed, language is a vehicle of memory. Without memory, our intellectual life and faith are impoverished, barren, ephemeral and subject to the whims of the moment. The great religions of the world are traditions of learning as well as of faith. Traditions are sort of “created” memory that enshrined, legitimize, and form ways of life that echo deep within humanity. In the following paragraphs, I want to reflect on a way of looking at tradition through the lens of memory that has huge implications for our contemporary living.