An Introduction

The People of God as One People

These posts in this series are an attempt to deal with some of the complicated issues surrounding the identity of the people of God as the one people of God.

They examine how the Church and cultural Israel are related within the broader scope of the several types of eschatology (end-time study). For the complexity of the issues has led to a multiplicity of differing viewpoints that can be confusing without some road map: using some type of classification of views is one way to create order in an otherwise tangled scene.  



First the question of whether the Church superseded the earthly Jewish nation and its religious practices is a major issue. Some use the language of 'replacement' although 'fulfilment' is currently thought to be a better term within this framework.

Others, of course, believe that God has a plan with cultural Israel as well as with the Church; that He postponed his work with Israel only until the 'time of the Gentiles' would be fulfilled. Then his work with Israel will be taken up again.

These Christians believe that cultural Israelites because of their race will receive grace to believe in the future: these Christians will reject any suggestion that God has abandoned Israel as a nation. Other Christians, just as fervently believe contradictorily, that the Jews have no special place in the economy of salvation but must come by way of the Cross of Christ as do all who would be saved in this age of opportunity. 

Some believe that present-day national Israel is part of a fulfilment of God's 'unconditional' promises to it of greatness, land, and many descendants. Others believe that all such promises to Israel were fulfilled in Joshua's time or that elements of the promises have 'spiritual' fulfilment.

These Differences Have Consequences

The questions raised about Israel above raise individual and even nation-changing consequences. For example, the present US government supports the State of Israel to the tune of 6 million dollars per day (8 billion dollars per year) at present. 

At least some of this support can be explained in terms of Christians who believe that Israel is entitled to the 'Holy Land' because of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Hence the question arises, should the Church or Christians support the present Israeli government in its conflict with the Palestinians on the basis that God has promised the 'Holy Land' to the Jews?

Not An Easy Topic In General

In the reading I've done so far in preparation for blogging I've discovered that this field of inquiry is by no means simple. Many earnest Christians hold widely differing opinions and appear to have solid biblical reasons for so doing. 

Hence, my aim is to approach the area with some caution even though I have already developed what I think is a general sense of the place of the Church vis a vis Israel. (That doesn't of course mean it is correct in all respects and I realise I have much to learn!) Nevertheless, my quest is to acquaint myself more fully with some of the extensive discourse on this theme and hopefully learn much so that my views become better founded.    

Dying In An Entertainment-Saturated Culture

Often an author's main contentions, premises or lines of argument are laid down in the introductory pages which include any prefaces, forewords or introductions. Neil Postman ably displays this feature in his famous work:

Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985)


In the Foreword of his prophetic analysis of present-day Western society, Postman contrasts the famous novel 1984 by George Orwell (1949) with Brave New World (BNW: 1932) by Alduous Huxley.

Both these novels are about controlling the masses: in 1984 it is done by pain, but in BNW by pleasure.

Postman believed that BNW had got it right. According to Postman, people won't need Orwell's totalitarian 'Big Brother' to keep them in line; rather they 'will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think' (p. vii) as in Huxley's BNW.

In Orwell's nightmarish 1984 the truth is hidden by adapting it to fit 'the party line' (p. vii); in Huxley 'the truth [is] . . . drowned in a sea of irrelevance' (p. vii).

The first sketches a scared population; the second, a stoned one.

Postman's important book sets out to demonstrate that Huxley's prophesies are right and that Orwell was wrong.¹ That we are part of an anaethetised culture (rather than a terrified one).

He aims to establish that entertainment in its various forms (particularly, television) has become the 'opiate' of the masses. So where once political leaders were known by their words and were virtually unknown to the populace by sight, now leaders are known for their television image² and not so much for famous speeches.

Formal human interaction today such as marriage, parenting, schooling, church worship, sport, even psychotherapy tend to be entertainment or fun-focussed; today's people are more influenced by the form of communication than by content. A good-looking showman will tend to be better received than a person with average looks and little 'charisma' even if his/her content is sound and edifying.

Worship and Television (ch. 8)

Postman watched 42 hours of television's version of 'religion' (mainly Christianity but he mentions Judaism) in preparation for this chapter. He realised at the end of this stint he needed only to have watched five hours to develop two major conclusions about it.

• TV preaching becomes entertainment 

Postman fixes unerringly on matters that many Christians don't discern. The very nature of the act of the Christian worship is radically altered by the medium through which it is enacted.

Everything that makes religion an historic, profound and sacred human activity is stripped away; there is no ritual, no dogma, no tradition, no theology, and above all, no spiritual transcendence. On these shows, the preacher is tops. God comes out as second banana (p. 119).

One could also add that the television age is so powerful in its effects that today's preaching in consecrated spaces has been shaped by the presence of television outside churches and syngogues.

The only way out of this impasse is to instruct congregations about the nature of preaching as a preaching of the word of God (e.g., Acts 4.31; 8.4, 14;11.1; 2 Tim 4.1-4). 

• Preaching does not transfer well to television

The major assumption behind the use of television with church-like events is that the latter are televisible; that is, it is naively assumed that they are capable of being televised without losing their particular character.

And yet, as Postman points out, we don't assume that poetry in one language can be transferred without significant lose to any other language. We also know that a sympathy card is quite different from actually visiting someone who is bereaved. Simply put, 'not all forms of discourse can be converted from one medium to another' (p. 119).

Amusing-Ourselves-To-Death as a Title

Postman's title is cleverly devised with about three allusions in it for readers to note. Firstly, the expression of 'doing something to death' may mean overdoing something as in the expression 'it's been done to death'; secondly, the phrase may be used in a more sinister way with the meaning that 'You are doing this [amusing yourself] and this has become your life's work until the day you finally physically die. Thirdly, the phrase may mean that lives built on amusements and diversions run the risk of spiritual death/deadening.

It's not necessary to choose among these three because all three (and others) may be meant but I would incline to the idea that Postman is emphasising the real danger of spiritual death³.
 
1. However, each writer's outlook is more applicable perhaps to specific countries of the 20th and 21st century history in different areas of the world.
2. In the US, for example, a man who had originally been an actor in some 53 movies became governor of California for eight years (1967-1975) before being a successful Republican president of the US (1981-1989)!
3. Postman was a non-observant Jew and in this book reflects on the wisdom of the Second Commandment in proscribing the making of images of God (p. 9). Unlike others of his generation, Postman respected organised 'religion' without it seems being a participant.

The Body In The Library

Although 'the-body-found-in-the-library' detective story is a cliche - and Agatha Christie knew that well - she creates her novel so that the body dead in the library remains a mystery throughout. 

The victim just doesn't fit within the library's surrounding or within the house in which the library is situated. Her dress, her manner of being murdered, her class mean she is out of place, discordant. This anomalous crime and the failure of the police to make much headway provide much of the tension in this novel.

Characters

The characters and the plot of fiction stories are interwoven so it is hard to separate them as is done below. However, thought it would help understanding if this were done. I have grouped characters for clarity.

 

Jane Marple, amateur sleuth, who lives in the village of St Mary Mead;

The Bantrys: Mrs Dolly and Colonel Arthur who reside at Gossington Hall;
and the servants (of the Bantrys').

Police investigators who seem unable to solve the case of the strangled young woman found in the Bantrys' library;

Basil Blake, an unpleasant art-world personality and his girl-friend Dinah Lee;

Ruby Keene a dancer, reported as missing from the Majestic Hotel in the town of Danemouth;
Josephine Turner, professional dancer and cousin of Ruby Keene;
Raymond Starr, the male professional dancer at the Majestic Hotel.

Conway Jefferson, a wealthy, invalid though dynamic in personality;
Adelaide Jefferson, Conway's widowed daughter-in-law;
Mark Gaskell, Conway's son-in-law, ruthless and frank;
Peter Carmody, Conway's 'grandson' from Adelaide's first marriage.

Plot Synopsis

The story opens with Mrs Dolly Bantry of Gossington Hall in the village of St Mary Mead being awakened from a pleasant dream in her bedroom by her maid's announcement of a dead, unknown body being found in the library.

Jane Marple, a resident of the St Mary Mead and Dolly Bantry's good friend, is called for her support because Dolly fears her husband, Colonel Bantry is going to be blamed for the murder.

Meanwhile, in another connected sphere, a small drama is being played out between Conway Jefferson, Ruby Keene, Adelaide Jefferson and Mark Gaskell. Conway is rather sweet on young Ruby and intends to formally adopt her as his daughter and leave all his wealth to her.

Adelaide and Mark don't feel too happy about this but realise that they are not owed anything by Jefferson because they are in-laws not blood relatives. Adelaide also feels for her son who has been well-accepted by Conway might have expected to receive something in his will.

Themes

Comments About Marple's Abilties

Probably the key to Marple's abilities is found in this comment in the novelist's words: 'For Miss Marple had attained fame for her ability to link up trivial village happening with graver problems in such a way as to throw light upon the latter' (p. 17).

The importance of local knowledge is something the Miss Marple character uses to great effect. And she also uses her feminine knowledge of women's clothes and makeup as well.

For example, she knows that the murdered young woman is clearly not a local because no one nearby has reported her missing. She dresses in a tarty way and yet is a virgin (from the autopsy). Her nails have been broken through her biting them which is not usually the behaviour of a dancer.

Even though it appears that her death was first thought to be part of a burglary gone wrong she was hardly dressed for burglary given her clothing.

All these points become vital clues for discerning the whole picture which is revealed at the end of the novel.

Comments By Others And Marple About Human Condition

Character and theme are often illumined by comments made about others about the protagonist and by the protagonist herself.
 
Colonel Bantry calls in a close friend of his, a Sir Henry Clithering who has worked in detection work himself. Sir Henry says of Marple,

Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid, spinsterish face and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it all in the day's work. Her name is Miss Marple." Sir Henry to Col. Bantry (p. 91).

Jane Marple says: "Human nature is pretty much the same anywhere, Sir Henry" (p. 97) which is an allusion to the ubiquity of sin.

In a conversation between Dolly Bantry and Adelaide Jefferson, Jane Marple is discussed and the opinion by some that she is 'just a scandalmonger' (p. 124) is raised by Dolly. Adelaide, who appreciates Jane says, "Just a low opinion of human nature?" and then adds, "It's rather refreshing after having had too much of the other thing" [idealization of an unworthy object] (p. 124).

In the last chapter, Marple is asked by an expert Sir Henry Clithering about her methods. She replies that most people, 'are too trusting for this wicked world' because they assume that what they're told is true; whereas, says Marple, 'I never do'. She likes to confirm the truth or otherwise for herself.

She later confesses that a nephew tells her good-naturedly, 'she has a mind like a sink' (p. 184), a Victorian mind.

'All I can say [says Marple] is that the Victorians knew a good deal about human nature'.

As expected, Jane solves the perplexing crime with revolving around Marple's seeing things that don't fit properly and why that would be; but she does it within the framework of doubt about ready acceptance of the testimony of others. This ready doubt proceeds, I believe, from her belief in 'original sin'.

Agatha Christie's detective fiction can be found in most Municipal libraries. If you wish to find out who killed the young woman in the library then visit Wikipedia. 

Agatha Christie: Detective Writer Extraordinaire

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an prodigious writer with around 80 detective novels and other collections of stories published, giving us sleuths of the calibre of Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot.  

She also wrote, The Mousetrap which holds the record for the longest-running play ever (60 years and 25,000 performances in 2012).

Her works have sold an astonishing four billion items with her sales eclipsed only by the Bible and Shakespeare's works.

What is usually not so well known is that Christie was a Christian (Church of England) who took her faith seriously enough for a reader to detect it within her works. However, her writing is not evangelical for her vocation was detective novel-writing for the glory of God.

One of her major theme-ideas was the often hidden but nevertheless real sinfulness of men and women.¹This sinfulness was also to be found in English villages which romantic writers liked to think pristine and wholesome.

Next time we will look at Christie's The Body In The Library and see how the above theme of the novelist is expressed in her great creation, the sleuthhound Jane Marple.

1. This theme is one of whom Christie would have been reminded at every Holy Communion service in the opening Collect: 'Almighty God, unto whom all hears are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.' (1662 BCP)

Theme-Ideas

I confess that I went through school being largely unaffected by books and the reading of them. Perhaps Shakespeare's, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth; and a few pieces from the Victorian Education Department's justly famous 'readers'¹ stayed with me but only just.


In secondary school, I was earmarked for the 'science' stream which further cut me off from reading literature. After school, I worked as a trainee industrial chemist for three years but then left to train as a primary (elementary school) teacher.

In second-year teachers' college, we were taught English Literature by a grumpy, bitter, 'old' lecturer who transformed my indifferent outlook on literature and reading to one of excitement. (Although a scarey man in class, Mr D. was a kind and gentle man on a one-to-one basis.)

As I write this now, I hear the thunder of his first lecture from 45 years ago: 'Art is not Nature; Nature is not Art'. He scorned the supposition that 'natural' heaps of dirt and weeds around our college could be construed as 'art' just because they looked somehow 'artful' to the eye.²

I am grateful to Mr D. for his teaching that literary works contain theme-ideas (with setting, plot, characters, and a 'point-of-view' - [third-person or first-person viewpoint]): with this discovery, books became more intellectually robust adventures for me.

Of course, it may be that everyone else at school had understood this and I had missed it completely. But whatever the reason for the gap in my schooling, I am thankful for my time at College and for the teaching of this lecturer. 

Today though, it's amazing how little people read; how few books people take time to read given the great privilege we all have. Perhaps it has always been that way but my suspicion, borne out by some studies of this question, is that since the advent of television, the general populace does less and less reading. It might even be said that we are gradually losing the ability to read, and to read critically.

What we also don't realise at times is that the large issues of our Western lives have been shaped by print. Just think of the King James Version of the Bible and the influence this one mighty text empowered by God's Spirit has had across the entire world. To this we could add, The Pilgrim's Progress and the works of William Shakespeare.

And print, even a murder mystery by Agatha Christie³ is molded by theme-ideas intentionally and sometimes less intentionally with artfulness.⁴ And these theme-ideas emerge from heart-held religious⁵ convictions about the meaning of life.

Some of these considerations above I will be pursuing in this blog by highlighting certain works on my bookshelves.

1. These readers were the basic reading material for each year so if a pupil got through his reader in a short time but wanted more to read then tough! Books and especially children's books were in short supply in the 50s to early 60s when I was at school. No one complained because our parents had had it worse. Most of my peers were not interested in reading anyway.
2. A view that is still being prosecuted in the art-world today and costing art-investors millions.
3. In fact, it's interesting to note how AG's stories are taken by modern film-makers and rewritten to present a different worldview from the one Christie espoused.
4. Even more so with television because this medium does not easily enable the watcher to replay what has caught his attention.
5. By 'religious' I don't mean necessarily following a recognisable or traditional religion but I believe that man is incurably religious.  

Where Are Our Treasures?

Recently we were reading Matt 6.19-21 in our devotions. I was especially challenged by our Lord's words in verse 21: 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also'.

The cosmic perspective into which this passage fits is the heaven-and-earth milieu (that dominates all of holy Scripture). Jesus' teaching challenges his hearers to assess their attitudes and heart-commitments in the light of heaven.

Sadly, at least 'down-under', the idea of heaven is blanketed by the passing parade of 'the moment'. Only impending death or close misses focus minds enough to consider a possible 'afterlife'. However, quickly we go back to working ourselves to death (Prov 23.4-5); perhaps with brief recourse to 'amusing ourselves to death' (as Neil Postman called it) with television and mobile phone games.

For some time I've noticed the absence of talk about 'heaven' and the 'resurrection of the body' in some Christian circles where it was once dominant. Many Christians seem to be comfortable with this present world and what it offers.

The Matthean passage's focuses on 'treasures' or riches of two types. The first type of treasures are are susceptible to the effects of moths and rust for these can spoil them. Thieves can also steal them. It is evident that they are things like money, precious metals or things made out of metals, desirable goods and garments.

The second type of treasures can be stored up in heaven and there they cannot be tarnished, degraded or stolen. 

What are these 'treasures'? In 1 Tim 6.17-19, Timothy is told to command those who are rich in this present age, 'not to be haughty', 'nor to trust in uncertain riches' but,

in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

To be 'rich in good works' is a gracious state because it reflects the character of the God who gives richly to all mankind. In Acts 10.38, Jesus is said to have gone around, 'doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him'. 

Jesus reflected the character of His heavenly Father and so should we in every area of life and particularly to those who are of the household of faith.

We may not be millionaires but we have enough to do 'good works' with what we have. Good works cannot wash away our sins - only the blood of Jesus can do that - but good works are the outworking (Eph 2.8-10; Phil 2.12-13) of becoming a child of God (Jn 1.12).