Recently in Supernatural Category

I'm really excited about my new project, which has me thinking about all things paranormal. Turns out, they're all around us -- almost, well, normal.  The Bible is one source for images and ideas, but the appeal (some would say awareness) seems basic to our humanity. If we don't believe, exactly, we are nevertheless captivated and strangely affected by the supernatural. There's the vampire craze, of course; but angels and demons (thank you, Dan Brown, we cannot use that phrase in exactly the same way ever again), hybrid beings, and mysterious doings are part of the warp and woof of our lives.

Some weeks ago, when the summer ahead seemed endless, I opened a hulking book that has been quite a ride -- Galilee, by Clive Barker. Immortal beings intersecting with extraordinary human beings in ordinary settings. It's wild, not least because the narrator is a curious being and so self-aware of telling the story (another layer that's intriguing). Besides that, I've been watching old episodes of Saving Grace, True Blood, and the pilot of Neighbors from Hell (didn't do it for me), Supernatural, and the Gates. So many more! -- and I'm open to suggestions. Hope you enjoyed a magical Fourth~

There's Twilight of course, and True Blood, and going back in time a little, there was Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all those Anne Rice novels. I shouldn't have been surprised to stumble on two more that feature vampires front and center -- Moonlight and The Gates. You'd have to live under a rock in the wilderness to be ignorant of the vampire craze. They're everywhere these days. But did you know there are biblical tie-ins, too? Take this, for example: The Greek word that denotes the evil serpent figure in the Christian book of Revelation is drakon (yes, like "dragon"). A variation of it became the Romanian word for "devil" -- dracul. You can probably see where I'm going with this. Dracul became the nickname of a fifteenth century Transylvanian gent, who belonged to the fraternal society "Order of the Dragon." His son Vlad Tepes grew up to be the cruel count "Vlad the Impaler," also known as Dracul, Jr., "the little devil" dracula (being the diminutive form of dracul). Centuries later Bram Stoker came along, and the rest is history. More to come on the blood, the sex, and those ultra long lives... Wha ha-ha ha-ha.

There's something surreal about walking across the great plaza of the Louvre, riding the escalators under the modern glass pyramid, and coming face-to-face with Baal, etched in limestone some 3,500 years ago. That famous stela, discovered at the ancient city of Ugarit (now Syria's Ras Shamra), depicts the storm god whose name became synonymous with wrongful worship in the Bible. He strides purposefully forward holding a staff that touches the ground and blooms at its tip -- indicative of the fertility that followed the rains he brought. A famous biblical story in 1 Kings 18 pits the prophets of Baal against the prophet of Yahweh (Elijah) during a drought. After Baal failed to respond to the prophets' pleas for a sign, Elijah called on Yahweh who dramatically consumed the sacrifice... And then, the narrator tells, it began to rain. The rain may seem to modern readers an afterthought, simply part of the story's setting. Actually, it made a strong theological statement: that it was Yahweh, not Baal the so-called god of storms, who controlled the weather and could bring rain in a devastating drought. So much has changed since the artist carved this depiction of Baal, and so much is still the same. I wonder how many prayers went up last week for the Icleandic volcano to cease its spewing. How many prayers for protection from earthquakes, hurricanes, and fire? How many prayers right now are being prayed for rain?

"Yuck-o and the Fiery Serpent" sounds like a YA short story or moralistic tale. It is neither. Instead, it's how anyone might react to reading about a particularly awful parasite called the guinea worm. Because it burns like hell on its way out, it shares description as a "fiery serpent" with strange biblical creatures.  I'll spare you the details of how drinking infected water gets the little buggers growing in one's gut til they're mature enough to burrow out of your skin. Slowly. Some relief may be had by soaking the site in water,... and so the cycle goes. The good news, I'll tell you upfront, is that this particularly gruesome and painful parasite can be completely eradicated. Human beings are the worms' sole host.  

Some people associate the "fiery serpent" with snakes described in the book of Numbers (chap 21). According to the story, God sent biting snakes to afflict the Israelites whose complaining on their desert trek exasperated God. But I wonder if it isn't rather the "fiery serpent" of Isaiah 14:29 that we should think of -- predicted to plague Philistia, when they rejoiced over the death of Judah's king. Whatever the case, the biblical (Hebrew) term is "seraph," which certainly adds another dimension to our ideas about that order of angels.

 Out of the heaps of snow we've been getting lately, someone in my neighborhood has fashioned a great big Cupid in her front yard...or is it a cherub? Shoot, is Cupid himself some kind of cherub? I stood contemplating those questions for a minute or so until my dog started snuffling about at the smooshed remains of a sandwich beginning to emerge from under the packed snow, and I figured it was time to move on.
 Christmas came and went with its cards adorned by chubby-cheeked winged babies. Now it's Valentine's Day, and they're back again. We're accustomed to calling these charming figures cherubs. But it's a biblical word, and in the Bible, cherubs are nothing like that.

The biblical book of Revelation (the last one in the Christian canon) is full of wild imagery and evocative symbolism. It lends itself well to interpretation, reinterpretation, and application in all sorts of times and places. I begin BIBLE BABEL with reference to concerns aired in Florida some months ago about inserting microchips in animals. The chips have retrievable electronic data to make it easier to, well, retrieve Fido or Fluffy should he or she get lost... which sounds good. But to some Revelation-readers it hints of evil because a passage there tells of a wicked Beast increasing its power and control. Without its mark one can neither buy nor sell. There's talk also of implanting chips in people these days, by employers (of all things!) to track their workers. It has ominous implications even apart from the religious. Add Revelation, as this recent Washington Post article reports, and people are past uncomfortable.

Given its title, I figured that the movie would have something to do with demons -- a whole, well, legion of them... in full-on "possession" mode. After all, "Legion" is the name of a biblical demoniac, according to the stories in Mark and Luke, because many demons were involved. But in the movie, Michael (our hero-angel gone rogue) actually goes to some trouble to explain explicitly that the troops of zombie-like murderers are not possessed by demons but rather are angels fulfilling the command of God. And yet. Here the movie suggests that the line between angels and demons frays as God's patience wears thin. That's just one thing among many that I found intriguing about this movie. Another (and I admit I loved this) is the paradox of obedience. [spoiler alert!] Michael is finally deemed a better servant of God than the hyper-obedient Gabriel, set on fulfilling God's command to kill off the human race. Precisely by disobeying, Michael satisfies the "need" (vs. "want" hmmm) of God. That part's a little silly (God as some adolescent to the angels' maturity?!). But hope for a future unwritten (no theological fatalism, here), and mercy at the hint of goodness... I like that.

Did you know that "Eli" means "my God," in Hebrew? Yup. In one form, anyway. So, even if you'd missed all the previews, reviews, and commentary in between on the movie "The Book of Eli," you still might guess that the book in question is the Bible. The English translation King James Version, to be precise. I'm no film critic, so I'll leave that to the pros. But I can say that the movie gives viewers some interesting Bible things to think about, like: Is Washington's character somehow protected supernaturally in his quest to bring the Bible west -- protected by God, or by the Bible itself? If he is, what does that make of God, of the Bible? And: the KJV is undeniably a valuable literary artifact, even if one doesn't believe in it at all. So it would make sense to include in that post-apocalyptic library on the west coast. But does the movie suggest that that particular version is The (one and only) Bible? And do you think that a person knows the Bible if he or she has memorized a particular version? [Me? I think yes... and no...] Then of course there's all the violence. Our Bible-toting hero is no turn-the-other-cheek kind of guy. Timeless question: when should one and when should one not be such a radical pacifist? Finally, how about the evil megalomaniac, certain that if he had that book, his power to control and manipulate toward his own twisted aims would be complete? Does he know the Bible so well? Questions to contemplate, debate.... 

When crises hit, many people turn to the Bible... and find many things. While some hear words of comfort, hope and promise, others hear words of condemnation, judgment and blame. The biblically-informed '>Pat Robertson blamed the Haitians for making a pact with the devil for which God is now punishing them. Some Haitians themselves see the destruction as evidence of God's displeasure and desire for them to be more devout, as a recent Washington Post article reports. But Christians and Jews all over the world see in their sacred texts a message of compassion, succor and aid for the Haitians. Countless congregations are gathering funds to help, seeing in this destruction not the devastating hand of a God angry at the Haitians but the call of a passionate God to respond with love. In a rebuttal of Robertson, Jon Stewart (?!) quotes a few such relevant texts. Shoot, the Bible says a lot of things... and so does its God. Meanwhile, basic needs are tremendous and the grief so great. 

I wish I'd had the presence of mind to bring a notebook with me to "Sherlock Holmes." I should know better -- that the Bible shows up everywhere. This movie was no exception. A fun flick -- a little cerebral, lots of action, and a sobering reminder that what may seem to be convincing magic is sophisticated manipulation of the physical world. (And its seductive agent may be a malicious liar.) The movie has several biblical references that I just can't remember in detail. In addition to the evil Blackwood's overt associations with Jesus (busting out of his tomb after 3 days, eucharist-like ritual, and address as "Lord"), was it Revelation 1:18 that Blackwood cites? (And does the movie make the common mistake of identifying the book as "Revelations," with an "s" on the end?) Also, I remember being startled to see several Hebrew Bible/Old Testament references in the iconography of Blackwood's estate. For example, was it an altar or a kind of throne-like structure that was flanked by golden winged creatures (like descriptions of the biblical ark of the covenant... which serves in the temple as a kind of divine ottoman)? And what's with the Hebrew shin, lamed, mem, vav, tav writing underneath some structure (again, was it a different scene with Blackwood on a throne)? In the Hebrew Bible that word appears as such as a proper name. It also appears as a word modifying "stones" in a couple of references to building an altar of "unhewn" stones (so translated because the word is based on the root shin, lamed, mem which can mean "whole"; that's where the word shalom "peace" comes from, too). I still don't quite "get" why it would be in that scene, though, unless it's meant to mark an altar where a sacrifice would be perfomed (as in Deut 27:6 and Josh 8:31). Whatever the case, does this association of Hebrew with the occult have anti-Semitic implications? While I don't think that that the movie is anti-Jewish (after all, the guy manipulating these symbols and appealing to New Testament texts is obviously mis-directed... to say the least), such associations can be problematic, given the long Christian suspicion of Jewish rituals and traditions. Overall, the movie was good, entertaining fun and gives astute viewers some intriguing things to think about.