The Idea
This claim indicates that religious discourse does not merely describe historical time; it reconfigures it so that it appears to be a transcendent time outside change. In this way, religious experience moves from an event that occurred in a specific context to a meaning understood as permanent and fixed. The result is that history is not erased, but is presented within a horizon that grants it the qualities of totality and continuity.
Concise Formulation
Religious discourse: transforms historical time into a time outside time
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This claim appears within the book’s argument, which explains how the earliest religious events are transformed into a reference point that exceeds their immediate time. Instead of reading these events as merely historical occurrences, the text shows that they are gradually elevated to a level that transcends history. Here, Arkoun’s interest emerges in how religious meaning is constructed through language and memory.
Why It Matters
Its importance lies in the fact that it reveals a central mechanism in the formation of the sacred: the conversion of a limited event into a meaning that exceeds its limits. This helps explain why it is often difficult to distinguish between what is historical and what is transcendent in religious consciousness.
Brief Evidence
a felt historical time and a time “outside time” gradually formed through religious discourse a felt historical time and a time “outside time” gradually formed through religious discourse
Reading Questions
- How is a historical event transformed into a meaning outside time?
- What is the effect of this transformation on the way the religious text is received?
Degree of Documentation
High: the claim appears in a clear location in the book’s material.