Today I handed in my thesis.
Now I might actually get some blogging done.
(Also, I accordingly changed my blog header pic – out with the Hebrew! I have had enough for a while. Instead, a sunset captured from my back verandah marks the drawing to an end of this epoch.)
So, as the thesis monster and I continue in our battle to slay one another, I must admit there are moments (days, weeks even) of despondancy and wishing I had never even taken it on!
But, every now and then, some sort of joy creeps in and reminds why it is so wonderful to study what I study, and I am able to persevere.
I have been writing a lot the last couple of days about literary form and technique in the Book of Lamentations and it has renewed my passion for the subject, truly it is a magnificant piece of work and I can think of nothing like it in English or Classical Hebrew poetry (not that I claim to have a firm grasp upon the whole canon of either!).
If you want to take me out for coffee sometime I will happily talk with you about this for ages, but here is a quote by Paul House from his recent work on Lamentations in the Word Biblical Commentary series, and I do concur:
“This book is a masterful combining of related literary material. When one considers that this book meshes qinah meter and overall structure, combines individual and community lament, combines the basic syntax of narrative and poetry, uses the structure of acrostic without making all the acrostics the same, and provides thematic continuity from first poem to last, then one has to be impressed with the book’s artistry even if one cannot put a specific name to the book’s genre.” (WBC, p. 316.)
Sadly, so much of this is lost in English translations, and so the text just seems dully repetitious and hard to come at. But the Hebrew is amazing, and I kind of wish I had written it (apart from the tremendous suffering endured, of course).
So some dear friends of mine have been commenting…
(Note – the dear friends are not my computer – it is merely an analogy)
Says Mr G. K. Chesterton, on the matter of doubt/angst/lament:
“There is at the back of all our lives an abyss of light, more blinding and unfathomable than any abyss of darkness; and it is the abyss of actuality, of existence, of the fact that things truly are, and that we ourselves are incredibly and sometimes incredulously real. It is the fundamental fact of being, as against not being; it is the unthinkable, yet we cannot unthink it, though we may sometimes be unthinking about it; unthinking and especially unthanking. For he who has realised this reality knows that it does outweigh, literally to inifinity, all lesser regrets or arguments for negation, and that underneath all our grumblings there is a subconscious substance of gratitude… This is something much more mystical and absolute than any modern thing that is called optimism, for it is only rarely that we realise, like a vision of the heavens filled with a chorus of giants, the primeval duty of praise.” (Chaucer, 1932).
What do you reckon?
So I have been copping some flack for lack of recent blog posts, which may in fact be deserved! (Though I defend myself that it hasn’t been a month yet! It could be worse!) I could state some reasons why in my defense, but instead shall deflect attention by advertising new(ish) blogs of some of my dear friends and peers, all of whom are far smarter and actually have much more interesting things to say than I.
Richard Glover | I woke up this morning with a frappachino in my hand…
Tim Smartt | Insane Angels
Jeremy Smith | Micaiah Sells Out
Where are the ladies?
So, a while ago I was reading Walter Brueggemann’s The Message of the Psalms and found this:
[Referencing a quote given elsewhere from John Updike's Rabbit is Dead: "Laugh at ministers all you want, they have the words we need to hear, the ones the dead have spoken"]
“Updike suggests that such religious language [the Psalter] is “the words of the dead,” the words that linger with power and authority after their speakers have gone. Indeed, perhaps because we are ’speech creatures’, the most enduring thing about us is our serious speech to each other. So I take these psalmic words as “the voice of the dead,” who may turn out to be the most living, present, and powerful ones among us (cf. Heb. 12:1). Updike’s marvelous characterization of Rabbit comes when Rabbit is face to face with these powerful words that he cannot mock or dismiss or trivialize, as he does almost everything else. That moment of candor is reenforced by Elie Wiesel’s remarkable statement “Poets exist so that the dead may vote.” They do vote in the Psalms. They vote for faith. But in voting for faith they vote for candor, for pain, for passion – and finally for joy. Their persisting voting gives us a word that turns out to be the word of life.” (The Message of the Psalms, p. 12.)
When I first read this I was like ‘yeah!’ and it was one of those moments where I was reveling in how much I love what I get to study at uni. And certainly, I can’t help but be a bit swept up by his expression here…
However it also poses the quandary which, as far as I can tell thus far (ah the joys of a thesis) is at the heart of my Honours research. I’m looking at the book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament in a sort of literary/genre study; understanding what is the established definition of a ‘lament psalm’, seeing how Lamentations conforms to or subverts the conventions of that genre, and thus what might be understood as the message of the text (and its implications for the recipients of it).
Brueggemann’s statement really reflects what is the mainstream or common idea about lament psalms – ‘yes, let’s be frank about how very bad the situation is, but in the end we rally again because we have confidence in God.’ I think this is helpful in lots of ways, and certainly quantitively many psalms within in lament genre do seem to conform to this ideal.
But what do we make of situations where the final note is not one of hope at all? Where the point on which we are left to linger is far from joyous? Sometimes when applying the above concept of what laments look like, it can be easy not to leave room for places where the poem or song does not end with a smile. Instead of moving from lament to praise, the movement happens in the opposite direction. Or perhaps, it just reverts back to lament again. We must come to these texts on their terms, and though looking for the happy ending, be willing to face up to the real and honest despair found in some of these laments.
Lamentations, when read for all it is worth, is I think a very dark book and illustrates to us the reality of grappling with God’s promises when it truly seems all hope is lost. Do we find there any confidence at all of restoration, renewal, brighter days to come again? And if not, then…?
Anyway, so here’s what I am thinking about. Until October. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Well, I have gotten myself a blog. I am really very unsure this was a good idea, and indeed I cannot believe I have succumbed after all this time. I will state right off the bat that all blame goes to my friend who persuaded me to try it out.
Hopefully though, this will be a good place to post some interesting things I’m encountering and pondering upon over the course of the rest of my Honours year looking at the book of Lamentations and lament psalms generally. I have no pretense with regards to how interesting it may for anyone who reads though (!) and am trusting it will be at the very least a good procrastination tool!
So, here is to getting in with the hip crew, and trying something new…
