September 2009 Archives

The Coen brothers are out with a new one. Among my favorite film-makers today, the Coen brothers just released "A Serious Man," based in part on the biblical Job. I'm eager to see how they handle the story. Do they present their Job as a saint, of storied patience, like the popular characterization of this biblical figure. Or do they show their Job railing against his friends and even God, agonizing about his fate with alternating quietude and fury, as he appears in the biblical texts? I wonder how they present the origins of their Job's suffering. Is God be implicated, or no? And how does it end, since the biblical Job's final statement is a bit of an enigma, or at least affords a couple of different interpretations. Whatever the case, I anticipate some humor, gritty poignancy, and a fresh "take" on the timeless problem of undeserved suffering. 

"The Saint John's Bible" is a remarkable, gorgeous representation of an ancient technique of rendering sacred text -- written by hand and "illuminated" with fine art.

Here's a partial description: "The Saint John's Bible is the first handwritten, hand illuminated Bible in more than 500 years. Under the artistic direction of Donald Jackson, M.V.O., one of the world's foremost calligraphers and Senior Illuminator to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Crown Office at the House of Lords, The Saint John's Bible was commissioned by the Benedictine monks of Saint John's Abbey and University in Minnesota, U.S., to ignite the spiritual imagination of believers throughout the world and to illuminate the word of God for a new millennium."

What effect does engaging in such a process have on those who undertake or undertook it? And what effect on those of us who have the opportunity to hold in hand and read such texts?

Translating the book of Numbers, I came across a curious story that I've never paid much attention to before (Num 25:1-18). The setting is the infamous sin at Peor -- of Israelites hooking up with Midianite women and taking part in their religious practices. One gets the impression that the Israelites were bored out of their minds, waiting and waiting to enter the Promised Land. The men wandered off and found some excitement among the Midians. Perhaps they fell in love. Whatever the case, they accepted invitations to church events with the Midianites, and as far as the story is concerned, things went south from there. That is, God was furious for this religious infidelity (worshiping foreign gods) and determined that the Israelite leaders should be publicly impaled for it. Embedded in the episode is another dramatic bloodletting whereby a priest of single-minded Yahwistic devotion bursts into the tent of a man caught, we are led to believe, in flagrante having sex with a Midianite woman. After all the priest successfully stabs drives a spear through the both of them in one thrust. Ok, lots about this story is striking; but for our purposes here: Both the man and the woman are named. She (Cozbi) is actually named twice, and in both cases, the narrator explains that she's the daughter of a leader within the community. Why do you think that is? Was it a set-up? Love? Is there more to the story that we no longer have? Is it simply that "as the leader goes, so go the people," therefore, be careful what your leaders do? Something else, again?

Check it out -- a gun in your left hand, Bible in your right. This is an ad by gun maker Henry Repeating Arms. Across the image of a guy wearing a holster with a gun on the left and a Bible on the right runs a quote from the company president, Anthony Imperato, "There is nothing wrong with clinging to your guns and religion." Yay? Nay? What do you think?

This year, our Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers are celebrating big holidays at the same time. Sweet New Year wishes to Jews just wrapping up the two days of Rosh Hashanah ("head of the year" in Hebrew) and embarking on the days of instrospection and repentance before the fast of Yom Kippur (Sept 27-28). And to Muslims: a happy Eid al-Fitr! ("festival of fast-breaking") -- three days of celebration following the Ramadan fast. Good wishes to all, and may your spiritual journeys be a blessing to all.

Working with the Old Testament (a.k.a. Hebrew Bible), one is bound to have to reckon with the nature and place of justice. Granted, sometimes God appears to be inexplicably severe, mean, even. But that's for another time. That famous "eye for an eye" quote comes from the Old Testament, and although it's gotten some bad press (Gandhi said that following through on it "makes the whole world blind"), many biblical scholars believe that its intent may not originally have been such a literal application. In that case, what did it mean? Perhaps a limit to retaliation -- rather than going nuts attacking whoever hurt or offended you, exercise some restraint. But, the text would still seem to suggest that some action is appropriate and maybe even necessary. Choosing radical mercy in every case may not be the best thing. George Eliot said, "There is a mercy which is weakness, and even treason against the common good." What do you think? A place for justice? When and where, forgiveness?

Of these sentences, which do you think is better?

1) "The Bible is a singular document of inestimable influence; but all evidence to the contrary, it can be really, really hard to understand."

2) "The Bible is a singular document of inestimable influence, but despite all evidence to the contrary, it can be really hard to understand."

Oh, and feel free to weigh in on how many "really"s should be included!

This sentence, in some form or another, will appear in the first paragraph of Bible Babel's chapter 1. FYI, one of my goals for Bible Babel is that it be a light, swift read, humming along even while it introduces and engages serious and heady info.

Here's the greater context (Ch.1's first full parag):

Earlier, I noted some of the difficulties that translators face when trying to render the ancient biblical texts in contemporary English for a modern audience. The biggest issue for the team reworking the NIV is how to handle the gender-bound language of the Bible's original context. Here's an articulate voice in favor of seeking gender neutral language -- to meet today's readers where they are.

I begin Bible Babel's chapter on translation by contemplating two quotes: this, from Miles Smith's preface to the first edition of the King James Version -- "translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light"; and the other from Umberto Eco -- "translation is the art of failure."  Smith, with an optimistic tone; Eco pessimistic. And yet... No pithy statement here, but an invitation to consider the challenges of translation in the face of the very real fact that there is no perfect, once-and-for-all way to render the Bible into English.

On this September 11, I'm reminded of how easy it is for extremists to hijack their own religion. Just a couple of days ago, a man claiming to be a Protestant minister hijacked an airplane in Mexico in order get the attention needed to tell the Mexican president a message he believed to have come directly from God. He was carrying a Bible. Inchoherent at times, even as he spouted biblical verses, Jose Flores showed clear signs of mental imbalance. When it comes to religion, committed practitioners sometimes do and say what others deem insane. Where's the line?  

Thinking about writing is not writing; talking about writing is not writing. Only writing is writing, or so the wisdom goes. The school semester is in full swing, and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to carve out the time and maintain the concentration required to make progress on the projects I'm eager to do. So, I'm excited about attending our annual James River Writers conference in early October. Open to all -- folks just beginning to sketch out their ideas, poems, and stories on paper; and seasoned pros who make a living at the craft -- meetings such as this never fail to inspire and encourage. Sort of like the paradox of taking more time to sleep can help a person to get more done, carving out space for a writing conference here or there can boost the profoundly solitary experience of putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. So, about that thinking and talking bit...

Quentin Tarantino's new movie, Inglourious Basterds, was informed in part by taking part in a seder at Philip Roth's house. The Passover seder is a religious practice of remembrance commanded by none other than God in the Bible to commemorate God's liberating the Hebrew people from Egypt in order that they could be free to be servants of God. With violence, liberated from violence. 

In Inglourious Basterds, the extraordinary violence that characterizes Tarantino's filmic art takes on a new meaning in the context of a real, historical moment -- the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor, and Nobel prize-winning writer, has championed the importance of remembering -- of remembering in order to prevent horrific crimes such as genocide from happening again. 

Elie Wiesel and Quentin Tarantino on the Holocaust. In the same context? Discuss. What does remembering violence require? And to what end?

On the NBC sitcom, "30 Rock," the optimistic, smile-y, and just plain aw-so-cute character Kenneth the Page declared, "science was my most favorite subject, especially the Old Testament." It's a hilarious poke in fun at a serious debate raging today -- Should the Bible's narratives about creation inform ideas about the earth's origins? Or: If a person takes the Bible seriously, must he or she necessarily reject the scientific theory of evolution?

N-E-W for the NIV? Twenty-five years after its blockbuster release, the New International Version is in for an update. The most popular version of the world's most popular book -- embraced by millions as the very word of God, well, you can imagine that reworking it is no small thing. Folks are already weighing in. (See blogs on Beliefnet , USAToday and Christian Science Monitor , e.g.) You can post your own remarks directly. Perhaps the most sticky sticking point in this go-round (and which derailed an earlier effort) has to do with gendered language -- for God, as well as for human beings (or "man," as some would have it).