THE SCAR OF ULYSSES
423
To me, the rationalistic interpretation seems psychologically ab–
surd; but even if we take it into consideration, the relation of the
narrator to the truth of his story still remains a far more passionate
and definite one than is Homer's relation. The biblical narrator
was obliged to write precisely what his belief in the truth of the
tradition (or, from the rationalistic standpoint, his interest in the
truth of it) demanded of him-in either case, his freedom in creative
or representative imagination was severely limited; his activity was
perforce reduced to composing an effective version of the pious
tradition. What he produced, then, was not oriented toward "realism"
(if he succeeded in being realistic, it was but a means, not an end) ;
it was oriented toward truth. Woe to the man who did not believe it!
One can perfectly well entertain historical doubts on the subject of
the Trojan War or of Ulysses' wanderings, and still, when reading
Homer, feel precisely the effects he sought to produce; but without
believing in Abraham's sacrifice, it is impossible to employ the nar–
rative of it for the purpose for which it was written. Indeed, we must
go even further. The Bible's claim to truth is not only far more urgent
than Homer's, it is tyrannical- it excludes all other claims. The
world of the Scripture stories is not satisfied with claiming to be an
historically true reality-it insists that it is the only real world, a
world called to reign alone. All other scenes, issues, and ordinances
have no right to appear independently of it, and it is promised that
. all of them, the history of all mankind, will be given their due place
within its framework, will be subordinated to it. The Scripture stories
do not, like Homer's, court our favor, they do not flatter us in order to
please us and enchant us-they seek to dominate us, and if we
refuse their domination we are rebels.
Let no one object that this goes too far, that not the stories, but
the religious doctrine, raises the claim to dominance; because the
stories are not, like Homer's, simply narrated "reality." Doctrine
and promise are incarnate and inseparable from them; for that very
reason they are "of the background" and mysterious, containing a
second, concealed meaning. In the story of Isaac, it is not only
God's intervention at the beginning and the end, but even the factual
and psychological elements which come between, that are mysteriom,
merely touched upon, "of the background"; and therefore they call
for subtle investigation and interpretation, they demand them. Since
