The Living Spring: A Comparison of Jacob's Well and the Well Hexagram

Water is a master metaphor in literature, appearing in many writings around the world. In some cases, water is stormy, vicious and destructive; in others, water is calm, steady and enriching; in yet other cases, water is reachable, manageable, and replenishable. In this essay, I will examine the dif...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:"Special Forum on The I Ching and World Literature"
Main Author: Hon, Tze-ki (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press 2023
In: Literature and theology
Year: 2023, Volume: 37, Issue: 2, Pages: 142-154
IxTheo Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism
HC New Testament
Further subjects:B Living Spring
B A Well of Water
B I Ching
B Gospel of John
B Hexagrams
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Water is a master metaphor in literature, appearing in many writings around the world. In some cases, water is stormy, vicious and destructive; in others, water is calm, steady and enriching; in yet other cases, water is reachable, manageable, and replenishable. In this essay, I will examine the different meanings of "a well of water" by comparing Jacob's well in the Gospel of St John and the Jing ("The Well", #48) hexagram in the I Ching or Book of Changes. In this comparison, my goal is to show that while "a well of water" has a universal appeal as a symbol of finding "a living spring" in one's spirit, it has different connotations and implications in different cultural systems. In these two renditions of "a well of water", we find authors providing different answers to the fundamental questions of human existence and the meaning of life-long learning.
ISSN:1477-4623
Contains:Enthalten in: Literature and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frad014