Manifest Glory: Phenomenological Indications from the Hebrew Bible

I offer a phenomenological analysis of the syntagm ‘glory of Yhwh’ which appears in relatively few but significant places in the Hebrew Bible. I discuss the biblical sense of this syntagm and make the argument for understanding it as a ‘formally indicative’ concept, in Heidegger’s sense of ‘formale Anzeige’. I thereby make the case for understanding the anthropomorphic, amoral and numinous qualities of the biblical syntagm in a way that illuminates contemporary phenomenological senses of being, including contingency, unforeseeability, respect, dignity, sublimity and saturation. The biblical syntagm is thus shown to contravene and outstrip metaphysical theology while illuminating contemporary experience, both sacred and secular.