The Lost Art of Writing Scripture

It is a common view that the Bible was written by God.  Or that the various texts that constitute it are the result of God writing through human hands.  Prophetic hands such as Moses' or John's.

An extension of this thinking is that if any other hands meddle with the Texts they become corrupt.  The divine original has been lost and what remains cannot be trusted, whether it came from God or not.

This 'God-as-author' view does more harm than good however.  Sure it is deeply true that God's voice is present in Scripture, but insisting upon the divine issuance of Scripture is not necessary at all.  We can avoid one of our society's major problems with Scripture by simply distinguishing between these two.  That is, when God speaks in Scripture we are to certainly take what God says as True.  But we are not to take Scripture itself as from God.  As if God wrote it and there is some original, untainted version, to which we have no access.

There is another problem as well with the God-as-author view.  More than just disconnecting us from Scripture it has also caused us, as a people, to lose touch with the art of writing Scripture.  Whether God is the original source of the Scripture written or not.

I say this for two reasons.

First, in believing that Scripture is God-authored we dismiss the possibility of it being the work of human hands.  It may be in us to theologize, or to provide commentary on Biblical texts, but the writing of Scripture is for God alone.  It is neither for us nor in us to take on such a holy task as Paul or Mark, and so we don't.  We don't engage in the work of writing Scripture since it is beyond our place as humankind.

Second, in believing that Scripture is God-authored the editing or redaction of Texts is an offence.  We lose touch with the fact that this is precisely how Scripture comes into being: through the successive iterations and perfections of generations throughout history.

Because we think that God wrote Scripture any change we see in a Biblical text over time is not appreciated as part of the writing process and as necessary to producing the truth-revealing power of Scripture but rather it is despised as a spoiler of what was once, or may once have been, a holy text.  We have lost the art of writing Scripture, which above all is multi-generational and involves the (re)expression of a wisdom that is generations in the making.  A wisdom that is very much like a tree.

As a people we must recognize once again that Scripture is produced just like any other piece of literature:  It doesn't come fully formed from the divine womb only to degrade under the profane influence of the world but rather Scripture is the result of a text's inception and maturation over time in the world through the tending of many human hands.  Edits, redactions, additions and all.

Scripture is not God-authored, nor is it authored by a single prophet, but rather it is a work of art that spans generations in its creation and perfection.

If we start to recognize the multi-generational authorship of Scripture maybe we'll start, once again, to pour over and (re)produce texts on the order of Genesis 2-3 and the book of Job.

Maybe our religious imagination as a people will be reawakened and the next time an argument is cast against the Bible because it was 'touched' by human hands we won't lament what is lost but rather we'll thank God that human hands are capable of such a marvelous craft.

Thanks be to God and to Job.

Behemoth's What?

The book of Job is as wonderfully simple as it is complex.

Simple because it is so straight up.  Because it tells us things point blank.  Because it doesn't require an advanced degree to grasp its point.  That Job is a perfect man for instance.  That there is no one in the world like Job.  That Job is the apple of God's eye.  That something is bothering Job after everything he has is taken away.

Complex because it is so unclear.  Because it tells us things so mysteriously.  Because its point, though simple, is far from easy to grasp.  The meaning of Job's final words for instance.  The intention of God's speeches.  The advice of Job's wife.  ("Curse God and die" or "Bless God and die"?  You just can't say from the words she uses alone!)

Within single passages of the book's sweeping verses there are singular instances of complexity that do not deny the simplicity of the book but that enrich it and challenge us to discern it more deeply.

The book of Job is wisdom literature.  It is simple, as wisdom should be.  For every man and woman to grasp.  But also complex, as wisdom is also.  Something that every man and woman needs to prove worthy of.  The book of Job calls for our discernment and the receiving of wisdom in us.

For instance, within God's majestic speech* in praise of Behemoth we find a single verse and word that raises eyebrows and begs us to discern.  The point is simple but the deeper meaning is unclear:

"His tail sways like a cedar," God says.  Or at least, this is how the common translations go.

God's point in this verse is quite simply to describe Behemoth in all of its glory to Job.  "Look at its tail!" God says. "What a tail!"  But closer inspection reveals more to God's words than that.  Although it is impossible to say for certain the original reader of this passage wouldn't see God pointing out Behemoth's tail but penis.

God is praising Behemoth by pointing out its cedar-like erection.

"Look at Behemoth," God says.  "Look at how potent it is!  Look at how its stiffened manhood sways in the wind!"

God is celebrating Behemoth's sex organ.  For its potency.  For its firmness.  For its erection.    That is quite simply what God is doing.  But why would God do such a thing?  Why would God point to this appendage over others?

The key to opening up the entire book is in this word alone.  If we go back to the beginning of Job's story the deeper meaning becomes clear: Job is a perfect man God says.  Job is perfect and upright God says. 

In the beginning Job is akin to a massive erection swaying in the wind.  Job is potent.  Job is firm.  Job is standing tall.

But this is only in the beginning!  By chapter 3 Job is down in the dirt lamenting his human condition.  By chapter 3 Job has lost all sense of potency as a human being.  By chapter 3 Job is no longer upright.

Thus God tries to cure Job of his impotence by reminding him that he was made along with Behemoth.  That Behemoth, and Behemoth's mighty erection, are a reminder to Job of his own potential glory as a human being.

Thanks be to Job.

*"Job 40:15 Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. 16 What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! 17 His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. 18 His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. 19 He ranks first among the works of God, yet his Maker can approach him with his sword. 20 The hills bring him their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby. 21 Under the lotus plants he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. 22 The lotuses conceal him in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround him. 23 When the river rages, he is not alarmed; he is secure, though the Jordan should surge against his mouth. 24 Can anyone capture him by the eyes, or trap him and pierce his nose?"

Copernicus Against the Church

A defining event in modern Western history is Copernicus' idea that the earth revolves around the sun.  Not the sun around the earth.

The veracity of the claim launched the Copernican Revolution and the ascendancy of science as our society's way to truth.  It marked a turning point in history where truth is obtained not through the teachings of the Church but through consultation with science.

The Church's resistance to Copernicus' idea effectively put the Church on the wrong side of history and was the beginning of the Church's (and Scripture's) growing irrelevance in people's lives.  Our society has lost and continues to lose faith in the Church (and Scripture) because we believe its positions are irreconcilable with such obvious facts as heliocentricity.

But here is the thing: isn't the Church treated a bit unfairly for its proclamations against Copernicus?  More to the point, wasn't the Church deeply right, if superficially wrong, in its insistence that the earth is at the centre of it all?  Or that we earthlings, and not the Sun, are in the position of command?  And are that around which all things revolve?

Just think for a moment: this position of the Church (and Scripture) is true!  Our life in the world shows us that it is!  Sure we are small.  Sure we can die in an instant and the cosmos is an expansive and mysterious space.  But look at what we have done and are able to do!  Look at what is under our power and what could be ours to control!

We have yet to subdue the stars but many of the earth's inhabitants are already under our command.  As human beings we have the power to make life hell just as we can build things like no other has built before.

The simple fact of the matter (evinced by our human capacity for science among other things) is that we are the centre of the universe.  The other planets and suns do, or are meant, to revolve around us.

We have the power, the responsibility, and the potential glory as humankind.  We are the ones who are called to speak so that others will listen and fall in line.  And will revolve around us and our Word.

In its resistance to heliocentricity the Church was simply proclaiming a truth that is deeper and more important than heliocentricity.  It made a mistake in regards to astronomy but it is understandable why it might make the mistake.

The Church did it for us.  To call us to the responsibility that we have all along been called to and to defend us against those who would say that we don't deserve it.

Thanks be to Job.

Remembering our Hope in the Resurrection

Today is Easter Monday.  Today is the day that the Lord was raised.

However there is a problem with our relationship to the resurrection of Jesus Christ:  Sitting so far away from it in history it is difficult for us to take it as fact.

We are doubtful that the resurrection ever happened because it happened so long ago.  Because it hasn't happened ever since.  Because we have no evidence to say that it ever happened at all.

As a result our belief in the resurrection has fallen on hard times.  Along with it the Christian faith.  We no longer take seriously the resurrection of Christ or what this means for our own life.  That resurrection is possible for us too.  That we are so special that we might receive such a destiny.

I believe that the solution to the problem of our having dismissed the resurrection is reconnecting to the time that came before.  To the time before Christ rose from the dead and Saint Paul proclaimed the mystery throughout the world.

In this time it was not belief in the resurrection that people had but hope.  There was no question of whether or not the resurrection should be believed but whether if we had hope in it.

Before Christ rose from the dead all that people could do is hope:  Hope that such an eventuality could come about.  Hope that all things are possible for God and that some of us deserve this ultimate sign of our worth.  (Life!)

But ever since the resurrection happened it's been about the belief.  There's no need to hope anymore because it has already happened.  God has already shown what God can do and humankind has been proven in its (potential) worth.

There is a shift from hope to belief.  From a time when only hope could be had to a time after it happens and what is called for is belief.

It itself this shift is not a bad thing.  The problem is that we have since lost the belief, and we have long since lost touch with the hope that came before the belief.

We have forgotten the time when all that we had was hope.  Because the resurrection is a hopeful thing.  Something that I desperately hope more than anything else.

So this Easter Monday let us remember not our belief in the resurrection but our hope.  Let us restore our hope that such a wonderful thing is possible whether it happened or not to the Lord.

Thanks be to Job.

Clothing and Nudity on a Biblical Scale

Clothing is a subtle yet powerful theme in the Bible.  So is nudity.

For instance, Adam and Eve's nudity is explicitly referenced in Genesis.  It is also their nudity that they realise and try to cover up.  And finally, in this short story alone, the pair is given hide clothing by God as they leave the garden.  (As a farewell gift or a mark of their shame?)

Noah too, only a few chapters later, has an episode involving nudity.  He got drunk one day and passed out naked in his tent.  His son Ham then stumbled in upon him and was cursed for it.  Not only Ham but his entire progeny.  (Why such a harsh penalty?!)  Ham's brothers had to walk in backwards after Ham to cover Noah with a blanket...

From here the theme of nudity and clothing persists in the Bible, right up to the book of Revelation where those who remain in the end are not naked but dressed in white robes.  Here the chosen people are not covered by (shameful?) hides and blankets but clothes that remind us of the original light of creation.  Or better yet,of  Joseph's magnificent coat given to him as a gift from his father to bespeak Joseph's glory.

Clothing and nudity is a subtle yet powerful theme from beginning to end.

And that's just it, or what I believe is one of the most fundamental patterns of the Bible: the peculiar movement that constantly emerges there from being naked in the beginning to being clothed in glory through grace at the end.

"Naked I came from the womb," declared Job, "and naked I will remain!"  But in faith and truth Job is not naked in the end.  Rather, like those who remain at the end in Revelation, he is clothed in glory through the grace of God.  He is not naked but decked in richer and more beautiful clothes than ever before...

It is the same pattern in the book of Job that holds on the broader Biblical scale.  From Adam and Eve to those who are dressed in the white robes in the end times.  Again and again the movement from being naked to being clothed in glory through grace emerges in the Bible.

Even the hides given to Adam and Eve and the blanket placed upon Noah fit this holy pattern.  Despite their shameful connotations.

Thanks be to Job.

Introduction to the Book of Job

I've studied the book of Job for some time now.  I'm also constantly praising the man whose name that it bears.

But I've yet to really talk about the book or the man.  At least not here.  So this will be my introduction.

I think a good point of entry is why the book is so great.  I think this is partly answered by why Job is so great.  Understanding the glory of Job is key to opening up the book in all of its glory.

In regards to the man then, I would say that Job is great because he shows us what we are made of.  He shows us what a human life made of dust and invigorated by the Spirit can do.

More precisely, Job shows us that we can stand up to God and live.  He shows us that we can call even God to account and survive the encounter.

Indeed, Job shows us that we can not only survive the encounter but that we can come out of it so valued and adored by God that God would work miracles just to keep us around.  God would even save us from the ashes to ensure our eternal presence and loving rivalry.

Job is great, pure and simply, because he reveals the full glory of humankind.  He shows what those of us who are made of dust can do and he proves that some of us are worth saving from the ash heap.  That we can equal and perhaps even surpass the Almighty in wisdom and power.

Why is the book of Job so great?  Because it reveals even greater mysteries than Job. 

Perhaps the greatest mystery of all is that we are called by God to do what Job does.  That we are made to stand up and fight in the search of goodness and truth.  To call even God to account if needbe.

What is it that God declares to Job from the storm?  "Gird your loins like a man!"

God doesn't say this to knock Job down but to raise him up.  God is calling Job to fulfill his calling as a human being and to image God.

So let us do likewise in memory of Job.

Let us show God what we are made of.

Thanks be to Job.

Has Science Surpassed Religion?

I heard a claim recently that science has surpassed religion.  It has done so by answering the problem of life, or how life came about.  Apparently this is something that the hallowed discipline of religion has been unable to accomplish to date.

So how does science answer the problem of life where religion has so far failed?  It does so through the generations of chaos and the good judgment of evolution.  These two, according to this claim, are the power couple of science.

To quickly say how they work together, chaos could be thought of as the engine of creation.  It is constantly bringing forth new orders and patterns into the world.  Just think of the stripes on a tiger or the spots on a cow.  Evolution then decides from among these chaotic creations what is good (and worth keeping) and what is evil (and for the ash heap).  Effectively, chaos sets them up and natural selection knocks them down (or at least it knocks down those that prove incapable of passing on their traits).

With this religion is (apparently) surpassed by science in terms of life explaining power.  Chaos and evolution provide natural mechanisms for what could before only be explained by God, the original engine and judge of creation.

But let's be serious for a moment.  Even if we accept these natural mechanisms (indeed, I would say that both chaos and evolutionary theory are beautiful and true), is this power couple a superior solution to the problem of life than God?  Has science surpassed religion?

One simple question decides the matter for me: Can we shout with joy before the mindless generations and selections of nature?  Are these above all praiseworthy or creative of the good?  Can we deny that a more mindful creative power is at work?  Or could be at work and should be at work?

I don't think so.  I don't think anyone can seriously think so.  Therefore science has not surpassed religion.

Thanks be to Job.