Sunday, September 25, 2005
The Bible Matters....
...In more ways than one -- as is pointed out by this interesting piece from OpinionJournal on Friday.
If you didn't know what "the powers that be" originally referred to, or where "the writing on the wall" was first seen, or what was meant by "the patience of Job," "Jacob's ladder" or "the salt of the earth"--if you didn't know what an exodus was or a genesis, a fatted or a golden calf--you would have been excluded from the culture. It might be said that a civilization consists, at its core, of these easily transmitted packages of implication.I'd never really thought about it that it way, but it makes sense. Biblical allusion is a huge part of our communication. The conclusion of the piece is not hopeful.
"The Bible and Its Influence" could not have been better made, but its publication is like putting a fence of palings in a river. Change, made up of all sorts of powerful modern forces, will continue to flow whatever high-minded educators do to deflect it. Maybe a few people will be caught and held back from the swift motion of the current by that fence.I; however, have hope. Not in the literary status of the Bible, but in its author. God has a way of standing firm in swift current.
