have been gained and understood on the basis of the Ontological Difference, contained in the biblical word and forever held open there, that mankind would like above all to appropriate and to interpret this revelation itself as the central projection of his own self-transcending heart. But the word of God prevents this by the unyielding force with which it turns upside-down the person who begins to listen to it. It convicts him first of his disobedience; it makes him responsible for his alienation