Great as Shakespeare is, I never lose sleep over anything he said. He leaves my conscience alone. He is a tremendous virtuoso of language, but much of his beauty is bound to be lost in translation. (I apologize if this offends our German readers; Germans believe that Shakespeare in English was really just raw material for Schiller’s great translations.)
By the same token, nobody ever feels guilty about anything Plato or Aristotle said. They spoke important and lasting truths often enough, but never anything that disturbs us inwardly. We are never afraid to read them. We aren’t tempted to resist them as we are tempted to resist Christ. The sayings of Confucius and Mohammed haven’t carried over into alien cultures with anything like the force of Christ’s words. They may be very wise at times, or they wouldn’t have endured for many centuries; but still, they are only human.
But all this raises a question ... Yet [Christ] said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” And so far this certainly appears true ...
Discuss.
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