The Man in the House of Being: A Story of Language and Being in the Bible

One of the author’s previous works, entitled A (Hi)story of Language and Being in the Bible, explored the relationship between man and language from the point of view of the biblical narrative, using linguistics and philosophy to analyze the way the ancient text describes the birth, the evolution, and the end of language. This analysis was used to produce a “meta-narrative,” that is, a narrative that recounts the story of the metaphysical world opened up by language, following the metaphor crafted by Martin Heidegger that describes language as the “House of Being.” In this previous work, the outline of this meta-narrative was presented in technical language, with its metaphorical elements intertwined with the language of philosophy, linguistics, and exegesis. The power of metaphors nonetheless lies in the fact that they appeal to the senses as much as to the mind. In the same manner, the meta-narrative can only shine when it is told in a language that is as close to the senses as possible: poetic language. The present work represents such a retelling of the story of language and being in the bible, as a prose story devoid of any technical language so that man can see himself as one of the dwellers of the House of Being that it depicts, and change his own relationship with language.
This story begins with the building of the House of Being by the first man. It then shows how the house evolves, both shaped by man and shaping him: how it is split into numerous houses as a result of man’s arrogance; how new building techniques will radically change the houses’ structure, and how man will dis-cover the village formed by all the houses of being. Ultimately, he will travel and make these houses new homes, and the village will slowly be transformed into a city, before the end comes, and the purpose of language in man’s destiny is revealed.
About the author:
Antón Bousquet is an independent researcher specialized in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of religion, and comparative cultural studies. He holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Grenoble III in France and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies from Fujen Catholic University in Taiwan. A former teacher of French as a foreign language, he has worked in different parts of Europe, the Middle-East, and Asia.