Preserving our Christian Heritage since 2001.
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Preserving our Christian Heritage since 2001.
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| Title: A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking |
| Author: Wilson, Douglas |
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Format: Paperback: 128 pages |
| Publisher: Canon Press (June 2003) |
| ISBN: 1591280109 |
| Review Date: May 20th, 2007 |
| Buy this Book from Amazon.com. |
Rating: |
| Book Description: |
Review:
Trinitarian Skylarking. What can I say, it speaks for itself. Left me start this review out by saying this book is not for everybody. If you are over sensitive about certain subjects, and like to over spiritualize what the Bible say (while claiming you believe in a literal interpretation), this book will do nothing but offend you. But I guess that is the point of this book, to shake us from our slumber.
Wilson starts by pointing out that satire is an ancient form of literature that is not often used in our culture, (at least not often used by those we could consider very cultured). I found that this situation is similar to the fact that our cultures lacks apocalyptic literature. As a result, be do not know how to interpret either of them very well. Wilson goes over the history of formal satire and looks at the two main schools, Juvenalian satire (which is very biting and "attacking") and Horatian satire (which is subtle and lightly mocking). He gives examples of each school taken from the Bible. There is also a brief explanation of what the goals and purpose of satire is.
He then goes on the explain that the reason so many of us are offended by satire is because we have imposed non-Biblical assumptions of morals onto the Bible. He records an example where some one told him what he was doing was unbiblical. After pointing it out that there are many Biblical examples of what he was doing, the person countered that it was unchrist like. To which the author pointed out several examples where Christ used satire. To which the person responded that they did not like what he was doing. This he says if the problem, emotional sentimentalism that has not been conformed to the scriptures.
In several places Wilson rephrases and updates some of the more satirical lines from the Bible. Some times he will tell you what he is paraphrasing, sometimes he allows you to think through what he said. I found this useful because I think we grow to familiar with the Bible for it to really shock us any more.
An example from my own life will illustrate. Take Philippians 3:8-9 for example. The traditional wording is "dung." Some translation have "rubbish" or "trash." One day, while studying some texts unrelated to the Bible, I found out that the word Paul uses, that we translate as "dung" or "rubbish" is much stranger and vulgar than the words "crap" or "poppycock". It is much better translated as "shit," or from modern readers: "bull shit," which captures the idea and meaning in a superior way than "rubbish" does. Of course most people are rather offended by that, and would rather hear nothing of it. Which comes back to the main point of Wilson's book, will it be a Biblical standard or your own standard. (The issue at hand being Biblical inspiration, did the Holy Spirit inspire all the Bible, or only the parts that you feel are inspiring?)
Wilson discusses why some people think satire is arrogant, and how it is tied in with the myth of neutral dialog and discussion. He also lays some ground rules for Christian satire. For example, he says that only those who are mature in the faith should engage in satire, strongly recommending against new converts or young people employing this art form. Some my find it surprising that he has no qualms with engaging in satire against other Christians. But he makes one comment that I think sums up his argument nicely: Hardy Boys in the Apocalypse, (i.e. The Left Behind Series). Some times it is easy to dismiss the worlds criticism as "persecution" when we really are doing a foolish thing. It should not be as easy for us to dismiss the criticism of our fellow believers in Christ.
