Religious Dimension in Texts by Julius Sasnauskas and Juris Rubenis

The article deals with the stylistics of religious texts, analyzing texts by Julius Sasnauskas and Juris Rubenis. The analysis focuses on the stylistic features of the texts: irony, paradox, metaphor. The following questions emerge: how can religious texts be developed? What are the differences between the stylistics of religious and literary texts? The topic of the article is also reflected in the works of Hans Robert Jauss, who analyzes dialogicity of texts, and in Paul Ricoeur’s theory of metaphor. The most important feature of the analyzed religious texts is the theopoetical thinking. The metaphorical language invokes faith and allows to express the paradoxes of Christian truths. The specifics of gender are also discussed in this research. Julius Sasnauskas notably does not follow the tradition of postils: he is searching for new forms. We can call the texts by a Catholic priest a sermon, a prayer, a meditation, yet they also are very closely linked to essay, which possibly allows to express religious authenticity best. A very similar searching for adequate forms is evident in the texts by Juris Rubenis. The short fairy-tales, written by a Lutheran pastor, are like miniatures or parables by which religious questions are discussed. Thus, the literary form of Julius Sasnauskas and Juris Rubenis’ texts is a means to convey religious thoughtsLituanistikos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta