Abstract
The Bible abounds with allusions to faces.2 But what is a face? Eyes, ears, a mouth, a nose, skin smoothed and lined over bones and teeth—these are facial parts, but they do not make a face, at least not alone. Expression—that is closer to the mark. Pain and pleasure; speech and silence; laughter, song and tears; joy and sorrow; kisses and curses; frowns, smiles, fear, hate, anger, love, trust, innocence, and guilt—faces reveal and mask, tell and hide who we are. “One face with many faces” is a description that fits everybody. A person lives in each expression, even as none expresses us completely.
Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.
—Exodus 33:23
for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
—1 Peter 3:121
God looks on …
—Elie Wiesel, Ani Maamin
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Selected Works Cited
Cargas, Harry James. Harry James Cargas in Conversation with Elie Wiesel. New York: Paulist Press, 1976.
Roth, John K. A Consuming Fire: Encounters with Elie Wiesel and the Holocaust Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1979.
Wiesel, Elie. Ani Maamin: A Song Lost and Found Again. Trans. Marion Wiesel. New York: Random House, 1973.
Wiesel, Elie. Legends of Our Time. Trans. Steven Donadio. New York: Avon Books, 1972.
Wiesel, Elie. Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits and Legends. Trans. Marion Wiesel. New York: Random House, 1973.
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© 2009 Beth Hawkins Benedix
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Roth, J.K. (2009). Face to Face. In: Benedix, B.H. (eds) Subverting Scriptures. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101296_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101296_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37648-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-10129-6
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