“The human being is not only in the world, not only an being-in-the-world but also being-toward-the-book in relationship to the inspired Word, an ambiance as important for our existence as streets, houses, and clothing. The book is wrongly interpreted as pure Zuhandenes, as what is at hand, a manual. My relation to the book is definitely not pure use; it doesn’t have the same meaning as the one I have with the hammer or the telephone.”

• Emmanuel Levinas