Wednesday June 30, 2010
What’s religious, anyway?
By Jim Taylor
Are my columns religious? That’s not a rhetorical question. I’d really like to know what makes something religious – be it music, art, dance, drama, whatever.
The question was prompted by reactions to a column I wrote about asbestos. Forty years ago, asbestos showed up in over 4000 products here in Canada. Then we learned that asbestos fibres cause lung cancer. So we quit using asbestos in Canada. But we still sell it to less developed nations. We subsidize the industry; we lobby internationally to protect our exports.
Asbestos is not safe for us, our policies imply. But it’s fine for you inferior races.
Was that column religious, or not?
I didn’t mention God, Jesus, or the Bible. A reader commented, “I wish you had quoted Jesus’ command, to love your neighbour as yourself.”
The addition would have certainly have set my message in the Christian camp. For some readers, it would have added credibility. But it would have destroyed credibility for others. They would have seen me exploiting an injustice to promote a particular faith.
Quoting Jesus would not, however, have changed the point I was making.
Does the source cited as authority define a work’s religious orientation? Suppose I had buttressed my arguments with an appropriate quotation from the Qur’an or the Upanishads. Would that have turned my column into Islamic or Hindu propaganda?
Choice of subject
Or does it depend on the subject matter? Is a book about, say, homeless unwed mothers today a secular book; a book about a biblical unwed mother’s journey to Bethlehem, religious?
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in Rome is certainly religious. So is his justly renowned Pieta – Mary holding her crucified son. But his equally famous statue of David has only a biblical name to qualify as religious art. An uncircumcised David, as anyone can observe, is not even Jewish.
Earlier this month, I attended a Christian writers’ conference. Most of them came from conservative and evangelical traditions. Their prayer groups, their willingness to invoke Jesus as Lord, clearly distinguished them from secular scribblers. But their published works – and a surprisingly high proportion had successfully broken into print – ranged from suspense and mystery novels to psychological counselling and marketing programs that could compete in any book store.
The author’s faith
So what makes it religious? Is it the author’s own faith?
Perhaps. Evangelicals have tended to be suspicious of modern translations of the Bible. Many still prefer the archaic King James Version. But the New International Version became an evangelical best-seller. It’s an excellent translation, though often indistinguishable in content from, say, the New Revised Standard Version. The difference seems to be that the NIV was done by scholars accepted as evangelicals.
Similarly, Eugene Peterson’s rather radical contemporary translation, The Message, has won acceptance at least partly because he’s widely known as an evangelical himself.
So does the religious validity of my writing depend on the depth of my own faith?
If so, how would anyone know how religious I am – aside from what I write in my columns?
Which brings me back full circle. What makes a column religious?
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Copyright © 2009 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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Your Turn
Last week’s column, about trusting people, struck a coincidence (can you strike a coincidence?) with Jayne White: “Last week a college student on a summer job was at my door trying to sell me an elaborate house, garage (I don’t have a garage) and personal security system. I said, ‘No thank you. What you’re selling is fear, and I don’t want it.’ He looked confused: ‘You don’t want to be protected?’ Fortunately, his cell phone rang, and I shut the door so he could answer in privacy. Think about it: I had opened the door at 8:30 PM to an unknown man and when he got bothersome, the universe intervened via his cell phone. His electronic surveillance would not have been as perceptive about offering protection.”
Sharyl Peterson shared a different perspective: “I agree that in many
situations (like airports) we are more trusting of others. On the other hand, I also see a great deal more mistrust — particularly of people who are of a different ethnicity than our own. (An interesting question would be: if we scientifically observed how people at airports leave their bags in the ‘care’ of strangers, how similar — re ethnicity, apparent SOE class, etc. — are those strangers to the people who make the requests?)
“I don’t mean to sound cynical, but in the part of the world I live in, many people are quite distrustful of other people who appear to be different from themselves… I believe that if we truly were more trusting where it counts (for me, up-close-and-personal, at home in our own neighborhoods and communities, people with whom we interact directly on a daily basis vs "trusting" airport strangers or the local power company)we wouldn’t have so many struggles to be and become true communities together.
“Thanks for always making me think…”
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NEW PARAPHRASE AVAILABLE
I write paraphrases so that I can understand the Bible. And one of the most bewildering books, for me, has been Revelation.
Then one day my minister suggested that I was reading it wrong. I was concentrating on the prophecies, the interpretations of the visions, the explanations of the symbols. I should be reading it as a verbal painting.
Without most of the speeches and proclamations, Revelation turns into a massive visual tapestry, an epic narrative. In most of my paraphrases, I have tried to replace archaic metaphors and images with more modern ones, and to replace desert based illustrations with some that we who live in more northern climes might find more familiar. I have not done that this time. I have simply excised the blather that gets in the way of John’s magnificent panorama of rebellion and victory.
I’m offering this paraphrase of Revelation on the honour system, the same way as my other paraphrases (except for Psalms, which you have to order through the publisher). If you want to examine my paraphrase of Revelation, just write me. I will send it to you as a Microsoft Word file. If you decide you want to keep the paraphrase, you send me a cheque for $5 Canadian; if you decide it’s not worth that much, just delete the file and send nothing.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF…
If you know someone else who might like to receive this column regularly via e-mail, send a request to [email protected]. Or, if you wish, forward them a copy of this column. But please put your name on it, so they don’t think I’m sending out spam.
For other web links worth pursuing, try
- Charlene Fairchild’s United Online site,
- David Keating’s “SeemslikeGod” page
- The Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity home page
- Alan Reynold’s weekly musings, punningly titled “Reynolds Rap,”
- Wayne Irwin’s “Model T Websites.” a simple (and cheap) seven-page website for congregations who want to develop a web presence
- Alva Wood’s satiric stories about small town attitudes and bumbling bureaucrats are not particularly religious, but good fun anyway; write [email protected] to get onto her mailing list.
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