Best Reads of 2018: Fiction

I intentionally read more fiction in 2018. I've grown intrigued by the power of narrative to shape and form us. Early in the year, I finally read Joseph Campbell's seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell). Campbell traces two primary narrative arcs through the literature and mythic lore of the world. First, he describes what he calls the hero's journey. This is the call to adventure that transforms the individual into a person of honor and influence upon the return to his community of origin. Most famously, George Lucas credits Campbell's study of the hero's journey for inspiring the plot of the Star Wars movies.  Second, Campbell studies the Cosmogonic cycle. If the hero's journey focuses on an individual place and growth with in the world, the cosmogonic cycle explores meaning of the universe from its inception to transformation to dissolution. Campbell uses a Freudian and Jungian reading as the means to understand the mythic soul beneath the cultures of the world. Campbell's reading of world literature intrigued me so I began exploring some class works of fiction.

Favorite novels that I read in 2018:
(1) Albert Camus, The Fall. Originally published in 1956, this was Camus final novel before his tragic death in a car accident. Camus uses a second person perspective to craft this novel that unfolds through a series of confessions by the narrator to a French lawyer whom he meets in a bar in Amsterdam. By using this style of direct address, Camus subtly entices the reader into his web. The Fall articulates a post-World War 2, post-faith understanding of human lostness. 

(2) Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) Conrad's 1899 novella about a journey deep into the Congo serves as a critique of colonialism with a biting portrayal of the human capacity for evil. Conrad's original remains a potent investigation of the human heart that in the 1970's served as a vehicle for the iconic Vietnam war film "Apocalypse Now." 

(3) George Orwell, Animal Farm. I first read Animal Farm as a senior in high school. It remains one of my favorite novels. Its thinly veiled critique of Marxist Leninism/Stalinism serves as a healthy antiseptic to utopian political fantasies of all eras. I've always found the slogan in the book's closing scene to be an ironic explanation for much that occurs politically/organizationally/socially within alleged systems that espouse equality of outcome: "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

(4) Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage (Plus). I've long considered a trip to Spain in order to walk the "El Camino de Santiago" ("The Way of St. James"). This is an ancient pilgrimage that ends in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in NW Spain. Coelho pens a story of a man who must face his own demons on the road to the Cathedral. The narrative is imaginative and more fantasy than a realistic portrayal of the pilgrim's path. It's spirituality is less Christian and more Gnostic themed.

(5) Herman Hesse, Siddhartha (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition). This was perhaps my favorite novel that I read in 2018. Hesse's Siddhartha is not about the Buddha. The main character Siddhartha does indeed meet the historic Buddha, but Hesse's focus is a tale of enlightenment told through the lens of a deep reading of Carl Jung. It's timeless message warns of the danger of self-centered spirituality, the allure of riches, power, and sex, and the potential to find oneself fully in unexpected places.

What were your favorite works of fiction that you read this past year?




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Reading Wisely and Well (Part 2): Steps to Achieving a Close Reading of a Passage in Its Scriptural Context

Continuing my tips for reading Scripture wisely and well...Read Part one here
 
5. Read multiple translations. I recommend that interpreters use at least three different translations during the process of close reading. Make sure that you choose translations from different translational families. For example, little is gained by comparing the KJV with the NKJV. Avoid paraphrases. At minimum, the deployment of multiple translations will serve as a guard against a simple misunderstanding of the English. But more importantly, comparing translations will guide you to the seams that exist between translations. By seams, I mean those places where the exegetical difficulties present in the original show up in the form of tensions between translations that otherwise remain hidden underneath the uniformity of a given English translation. Look specifically for substantive differences between translations. Make sure that you understand the interpretive options presented by the different translations. Ask: How do the differences in translation change the meaning of the passage? For example, Genesis 1:1 reads classically in the KJV, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In some modern translations, v. 1 is understood as a clause dependent on the verse or verses that follow. The NRSV is representative of newer translational approaches, “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,….”[1] At stake here are questions of the biblical understanding of cosmology and its relationship to its ancient near eastern context.[2] Reflect on the ways that the differences in translation seem to resolve interpretive issues. 

6. Reflect on the meaning of individual words. A couple of warnings: a) Don’t assume that you understand the meaning of words. When in doubt, always spend the time in word study. b) Don’t abuse the principal of “Scripture interprets Scripture” in defining words. It is folly to cite the meaning of a term used by one author when we are studying the writing of another. A classic example is the definition of faith. The writer of the Hebrews explicitly describes faith (Grk: pistis) in this manner: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Without a doubt, this is one of the clearest definitions of pistis in the Bible, but it is methodologically problematic to accept this as the definition of pistis in every other context. Words have meanings in relationship to the other words around them. Moreover, each biblical author may emphasize a different nuance of a word’s meaning. c) Don’t mistake common English definitions for a word for the meaning of a Greek or Hebrew term. For example, the Great Commandment or Shema contains a number of words that can be misinterpreted in translation. Deuteronomy 6:5, which reads in English translation, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Popular interpretations read these common English terms through a matrix more in line with Greek psychology and modern romantic sentiment than with Deuteronomy’s own ancient context. Study of the Hebrew (and cognate) usage suggests that “love” is in fact a covenant term exhorting committed obedience. “Heart” focuses on the center of human volition and rationality and not on the center of emotions. “Soul” is not the spiritual aspect or the “authentic” core of a human person, but instead Hebrew nephesh is descriptive of the totality of a person including the physical body. “Strength” is really better translated “everything else” or even “and then some” as it functions to intensify the seriousness and totality of the call to love God. Moreover, rather than suggesting three parallel spheres or attributes of loving God, “heart,” “soul,” and “strength” form a concentric structure that emphasizes to a superlative degree the whole-person commitment involved in “loving the LORD.”[3]

If you missed part one, you can Read Part one here

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[1]The NRSV lists two additional alternatives in footnotes: “When God began to create…” and “In the beginning God created….”

[2]For discussion of the four principal ways on construing Gen 1:1-3, see Terence E. Fretheim, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005), 35

[3]See the masterful exegetical study of the manifold issues present in the text by S. Dean McBride, “The Yoke of the Kingdom: An Exposition of Deuteronomy 6:4-5” Interpretation 27 (1973): 273-306.

Reading Wisely and Well: Steps to Achieving a Close Reading of a Passage in its Scriptural Context (Part One)

1. Pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is vital for engaging the Scriptures. My working assumption is that the Bible is inspired by God, preserved by God, and illuminated by God. Thus, we must pray for God's guidance. Moreover, let us pray that God may astonish us anew with the riches of the text.
2. Assume the posture of a servant before the text. Do not read the text with the goal of mastering it. Read the text in the hope that it will master you.
3. Read slowly. Take your time. This is particularly true for familiar passages. One of the causes of poor interpretation is the assumption that the reader already knows the meaning of the biblical text. Reflect on the genre of the passage. Is the text a narrative, a genealogy, prophesy, poetry, a parable, or discursive literature? If you have the ability to study the text in the original languages, do it. Reading the text in Greek or Hebrew forces the reader to slow down naturally. Regardless, ponder the words and phrases used by the author. In the popular imagination and practice, interpreting Scripture is a matter of flipping back and forth to other parts of the Bible in order to understand what a given text is saying.[1] Resist this. Stay put within the confines of the text you are studying. Describe it. Dissect it. Notice how the individual words are connected together into a tapestry. Paraphrase it. Analyze it. Observe recurring words, phrases, ideas, and themes. Break it into its logical or thematic units. Reflect on how the narrative or author’s thinking progresses. Don’t give up. Commit yourself to being like Jacob who refused to let go of God until he received a blessing. Biblical interpretation does not really begin until you have engaged the text in a process of careful and sustained reading and reflection. The process will be generative in terms of insights and the framing of new questions. The wise interpreter continually captures insights and observations through careful note-taking.
4. Ask questions of the text. Engaged reading involves much more than note-taking. Over time I have discovered that the best interpreters of the Scripture were those men and women who asked the most penetrating questions. The process of reading the text carefully and recording a series of observations and questions is the secret to engaging the Bible at a deep level.[2] In many ways, biblical interpretation is nothing more and nothing less than the answering of interpretive questions that the reader asks about the text. Observations lead to questions, and questions guide the interpreter to new insights. Ask questions that engage the text at three levels: Definition, Function, and Implications. Definitional questions attempt to gain a full description of the content of the text (“What’s here?” “What is the precise and specific meaning of each element that is present?”). Functional questions focus on the “So what?” of the issue. Implicational questions attempt to probe beneath the surface to ferret out the deep meaning. Let me offer an example. If we are studying Exodus 19:4-6, we will encounter a phrase that is unique in the Old Testament. In verse 6, we find, “…you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The twin noun phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation” are critical for the interpretation of this text. Regarding the phrases, we may ask the following definitional questions: What is the precise and specific meaning of the phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation”? What is the relationship between these two phrases? Definitional questions are followed by functional ones: Why are these particular phrases being used here? What is their significance? Finally we end with implicational questions: What are the full implications of our findings for understanding the theology and assumptions of Exodus 19:4-6? What does Exodus 19:4-6 assume to be true?

I'll post the followup blogs over the next few days. 

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

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[1]This is a profound misappropriation and misunderstanding of the dictum: “Scripture interprets Scripture.” Of course this is true. But the principal assumes that one has already carefully studied a text within its original context and found its meaning elusive. Only then does the interpreter turn to other passages where the meaning may be clearer and instructive for understanding our first text.

[2]I have been formed immeasurably through Inductive Bible Study as taught at Asbury Theological Seminary. Seminal texts include: Robert Traina, Methodical Bible Study; David L. Thompson, Bible Study that Works; and Robert A. Traina and David R. Bauer, Inductive Bible Study:A Descriptive Guide to the Study of the Bible (Baker Academic, 2010).