Monday, January 28, 2008 at 12:12am
For the love of God
Column: Interesting Times
"The Bible as an Open Book"? That's the subtitle of "For the Love of God," a lovely read by Alicia Suskin Ostriker. As Ostriker says, "To say that the Bible is an open book is to say that anyone may read it, that anyone may enter its chapter and verse. It is there for us, for all to see. But to call the Bible open is also to say that it encourages awakening, loving, thinking, and being more alive."
I agree. For those who might think — be misled, I might say — that the Bible is about dead men and dogma — Ostriker quotes Jewish tradition that "there is always another interpretation." She says, "The set of biblical texts I am exploring here seems to me a sort of fireworks display, with rockets shooting off in multiple shimmering directions," as she brings to our attention possible new ways of looking at the Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Jonah, and Job.
"Each is what I call a countertext, by which I mean a text that deviates from particular dominant biblical concepts and motifs, thereby enriching and deepening of the Bible as a whole. I begin with the melting eroticism of the Song of Songs, a poem in celebration of sex outside of marriage." Although not a new take on the text, that is an attention-getter.
As anyone who has read or heard the Psalms knows, their world is "filled with 'enemies,' 'sinners,' 'the wicked,' whom God is exhorted to punish. How should we respond to the fact that the language of many Psalms so closely resembles the language of Islamic jihad?" asks Ostriker. She continues to say, "Perhaps an unspoken reason for the universal appeal of the Psalms is that ordinary people all over the world feel themselves to be at the mercy of enemies large and small. But here is the rub. In our lives, and the life of history, the animus against personal foes is made to accrue to public ones; the purpose of state propaganda is to take our personal frustration and anger and redirect them against the foes of our rulers. We the people can always be manipulated to hate some demonized Other."
In her chapter on the Book of Ruth Ostriker points out that the one name that Naomi — Ruth's mother-in-law — uses for God, "Shaddai," typically translates as "Almighty" in English, also appears several times in Job and comes from the Hebrew and Akadian words for breast or hill, so that the God being addressed might best be translated as God of the breast-hill-mountain. It is a name often used in connection with the blessings of fertility." (I was delighted to read that, as several critics challenged the use of that interpretation in my most recent book, "The Feminine Spirit,"and it is always nice to have scholarly and poetic reinforcement.)
The Book of Ruth is a favorite of many Bible readers with its themes of loyalty, fulfillment, redemption and smart women doing smart things with lasting benefit for all. As Ostriker points out, "Ruth is a female version of the patriarch Abraham, who in Genesis 12:1 is told by God to "go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you." She too leaves family and country behind in a leap of faith. And, "In a sense she is something greater than Abraham; that is, if he represents a past in which humanity must be told what to do, she represents a future in which the heart itself judges rightly."
"We see through a glass darkly, as St. Paul says," Ostriker notes. "The Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, Psalms, Jonah, Ecclesiastes and Job can lead us, at least, to know that there are many ways of seeing that immaterial elephant-in-the-room, God, Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai, the One who in Kabbala is the Ein Sof, the Endless One."
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Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Lynne Bundesen.
I agree. For those who might think — be misled, I might say — that the Bible is about dead men and dogma — Ostriker quotes Jewish tradition that "there is always another interpretation." She says, "The set of biblical texts I am exploring here seems to me a sort of fireworks display, with rockets shooting off in multiple shimmering directions," as she brings to our attention possible new ways of looking at the Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Jonah, and Job.
"Each is what I call a countertext, by which I mean a text that deviates from particular dominant biblical concepts and motifs, thereby enriching and deepening of the Bible as a whole. I begin with the melting eroticism of the Song of Songs, a poem in celebration of sex outside of marriage." Although not a new take on the text, that is an attention-getter.
As anyone who has read or heard the Psalms knows, their world is "filled with 'enemies,' 'sinners,' 'the wicked,' whom God is exhorted to punish. How should we respond to the fact that the language of many Psalms so closely resembles the language of Islamic jihad?" asks Ostriker. She continues to say, "Perhaps an unspoken reason for the universal appeal of the Psalms is that ordinary people all over the world feel themselves to be at the mercy of enemies large and small. But here is the rub. In our lives, and the life of history, the animus against personal foes is made to accrue to public ones; the purpose of state propaganda is to take our personal frustration and anger and redirect them against the foes of our rulers. We the people can always be manipulated to hate some demonized Other."
In her chapter on the Book of Ruth Ostriker points out that the one name that Naomi — Ruth's mother-in-law — uses for God, "Shaddai," typically translates as "Almighty" in English, also appears several times in Job and comes from the Hebrew and Akadian words for breast or hill, so that the God being addressed might best be translated as God of the breast-hill-mountain. It is a name often used in connection with the blessings of fertility." (I was delighted to read that, as several critics challenged the use of that interpretation in my most recent book, "The Feminine Spirit,"and it is always nice to have scholarly and poetic reinforcement.)
The Book of Ruth is a favorite of many Bible readers with its themes of loyalty, fulfillment, redemption and smart women doing smart things with lasting benefit for all. As Ostriker points out, "Ruth is a female version of the patriarch Abraham, who in Genesis 12:1 is told by God to "go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you." She too leaves family and country behind in a leap of faith. And, "In a sense she is something greater than Abraham; that is, if he represents a past in which humanity must be told what to do, she represents a future in which the heart itself judges rightly."
"We see through a glass darkly, as St. Paul says," Ostriker notes. "The Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, Psalms, Jonah, Ecclesiastes and Job can lead us, at least, to know that there are many ways of seeing that immaterial elephant-in-the-room, God, Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai, the One who in Kabbala is the Ein Sof, the Endless One."
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Lynne Bundesen.