Rita Felski’s Uses of Literature Applied to the Old Testament

Abstract

This article converses with Rita Felski’s Uses of Literature as it applies to the Old Testament. First, I explore a loose correspondence between Felski’s “aestheticism” and “theory” and the most bankrupt versions of personal, devotional Bible reading and historical-critical interpretation of the Bible, respectively. Second, I apply Rita Felski’s four uses of literature—recognition, enchantment, knowledge, and shock—to the Bible. I suggest her reading strategies add to the hermeneutical toolkit of the modern Christian.