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Happy New Year!
I have four items for today. The first two are related to my reading for school. The last two are different kinds of musings.
1. Yesterday, I started Jacob Neusner’s Sifra and the Problem of the Mishnah. According to a little hand-out that I have with dates for the various pieces of rabbinic literature, the Sifra dates to the second half of the third century C.E. That’s pretty close to the Mishnah, which was completed by the second century C.E. (except for the parts that weren’t). So these are pretty early reflections about what the Mishnah was.
According to Neusner, there was disagreement about that very question. There are many times when the Mishnah does not quote Scripture. For some, the reason is that the Mishnah doesn’t need to cite Scripture for support, for it stands on its own authority. After all, it was given on Mount Sinai along with the written Torah! Yet, there are occasions in which the Mishnah does cite Scripture for support. And so there were people who argued that the Mishnah obviously couldn’t stand on its own authority but was merely an interpretation of the written Torah, not divine revelation from Sinai (if I’m understanding Neusner correctly). I’m not sure if this question can be resolved, for the data is mixed!
2. I read Phyllis Trible’s Anchor Bible Dictionary article on the Book of Ruth. She quoted Philippians 2:12, which is Paul’s exhortation for Christians to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in them. The relevance of this passage to Ruth is that Ruth and Boaz behaved righeously, and God worked through their deeds to fulfill his righteous purposes.
I wondered if Phyllis Trible was a Christian. When I was at Jewish Theological Seminary, Phyllis Tribe supposedly taught there for a semester, but many of my professors hadn’t seen her. “Has anyone actually seen Phyllis Trible here?”, they asked. I read up a little on her on the Internet and found that she once taught at Union Theological Seminary, so my bet is that she’s a Christian.
Her book, Texts of Terror, has often been referred to me as a book that lambastes the Bible as sexist and patriarchal. I had a different impression when I read it though—or, actually, I didn’t read all of it, but only the chapter about Genesis 2. There, she tries to show that Genesis 2 does not subordinate women to men. That strikes me as an apologetic approach, but it may just be her trying to use a widely-accepted tradition to critique patriarchy.
3. A blog that I enjoy is Lawson Stone’s “Stone’s Fence.” He had an excellent post a few days ago about his spiritual birthday, which commemorates the day he became a Christian (see Day 284: (Second) Birth Day). When he was a teenager, he went on a retreat and joined a prayer circle, in which he invited Jesus into his life. Here’s what he has to say about the reaction of the others there:
In this first of several such experiences, the grace of God that came to me in a public moment went unnoticed by those around me. No hugs, no “welcome to the family of God.” Nobody said they’d been praying for me, or promised to pray for me. No counsel nor encouragement. In the months to follow, alone and untaught in the ways of God, I groped for light, and found it in scripture. I cried out to God and discovered prayer. All alone.
In the years following, I came to cherish traveling companions in the faith and in God’s work. I love to celebrate the milestones reached by family members or friends. God has used my moments of “lonely grace” to sear into my heart that nobody else in my little circle of care should ever have to go unnoticed or uncelebrated in their milestone moments with God.
But then…can we really use the word “alone” for such moments?
I can identify with Lawson here! As I said in a post a while back (The Julian Narrative), my life doesn’t exactly follow the story-book pattern of many evangelicals I know. In small groups, I heard stories from people about how God used them to bring others to Christ and to make a positive difference in their lives. God seemed to bless people around me left and right, with opportunities to be noticed, position, marriage, and children, not to mention Christian community, in which they are pillars. Ah, the picturesque life! I’ve had some of those things, but my faith life hasn’t been that neat.
Lawson’s story resonated with me because it reminded me of an experience I had at DePauw. I went to JC, a Christian group, and the preacher was giving an altar call. I decided to go up, and I had a hard time getting into the circle because people were holding hands. I finally got in, and people were looking at me like I was intruding! (I don’t remember if I tapped someone on the shoulder and asked to be included. If I didn’t, then I can retrospectively understand their reaction!) I was hoping that they’d be more welcoming of me, a person who was seeking God.
A show I like is the New Adventures of Old Christine. On one of the episodes, Christine explains why she doesn’t want to go to church. When she was a child, she went to Confirmation, and her name wasn’t even called! When she went to church on the episode, as an adult, she couldn’t quite get into the flow. She was standing while others were sitting, and reading aloud when the rest of the congregation was quiet. When I read or hear evangelicals, my impression is that they believe that God’s providence extends to the church. “When you’re ready, God will lead the church leadership to recognize your talents.” “God led this person to pray with me, and she turned out to have had the same sorts of experiences as me!” Maybe these things are true, but what if you went to Confirmation and no one called your name? Is that a sign that God has forgotten about you?
What I like about Lawson’s story is that he could see the hand of God in his situation. Because his conversion went unnoticed by the people around him, he’s learned to value the spiritual milestones of others. As Joyce Meyer would say, he’s used his pain to become better, not bitter.
Do I recognize the spiritual milestones of others? To be honest, I don’t know too many people who have converted to Christianity. I’m sad to say that, because of my own aversion to evangelicalism, a part of me is actually happy when people chuck that belief system and become something else. Yet, if I saw that an atheist friend of mine embraced Christ after an experience of God, that would make me happy, or at least it would intrigue me. Some of it’s an appreciation of authenticity, of believing a certain way honestly rather than to follow the crowd.
The closest I come to recognizing the spiritual milestones of others is in AA, where I applaud people for their anniversaries of sobriety. Life’s a jungle out there, and they need all the support they can get! I admire them for getting through each and every day without taking a drink.
4. I went to Latin mass this morning because it’s the Feast of the Circumcision. The priest was saying that Jesus got his name when he was circumcised. I wondered if that were true in Jewish custom, and, sure enough, Luke 2:21 says that it was!
