Walter Benjamin on the divine origins of language

Abstract

Hence language does not confine itself to empirical objects because it serves the purpose of revelation and was first breathed by God into man to express the immaterial, the inexpressible and the unexpressed. Language is thus immaterial and refers to the mental linguistic being of things- their mental concepts rather than to an external object or referent. Language is thus immaterial and purely mental and serves the function of revelation- to disclose to man the divine nature of objects and their divine meaning. God breathed language into man that he might experience revelation and an insight into the divine linguistic being of things which God himself named in order for men to experience through the word and the Bible which is for man revelation of higher truths through language whose purpose is revelation and disclosure of higher truths and God’s ways.

(Keywords: Language, Revelation, Divine, Metaphysical, Transcendental)