Blue Cord

My brother, a tuba player, is currently on a six state performance tour.  He began with two stops in New Mexico, moved on to Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, and is currently in Montana.  He will finish up in Colorado before heading back to Georgia.

I wanted to congratulate my brother on a couple of things.  First, for being mentioned in an article in the Billings Gazette.  I also wanted to express my condolences for the fact that he is mentioned in in the same paragraph and in the same context as the Eddie Murphy movie Norbit.

More importantly, however, I wanted to congratulate my brother on being hired as the new Assistant Professor of Low Brass and Music Theory at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.  He has been teaching as an adjunct there, and they finally came to their senses and hired him for a permanent position.  Congratulations, Kenyon!

While waiting in the doctor’s office today, I had a chance to read this week’s Time, which contained two one-page stories about the Talpiot Tomb.

The first focused on what it called sensationalistic scholarship.  It pointed out that scholars of previous generations waited until they had been in the field for a few decades before publishing a big work, whereas the trend now is to get out your sensationalistic story and make a big name for yourself.  Part of this it blames on The DaVinci Code, which has opened the market to speculative works.  It also mentions the contributions of those who have published on the Nag Hammadi library.

The second article dealt with the traditional feud between Hollywood and Christians.  It makes points similar to what I said in “Liberals, Christians, and Toilet Bowls.” The author made the point that the two sides need each other, with perhaps Hollywood needing conservative Christians more than conservative Christians need Hollywood.

What was missing from the articles, however, was a substantive discussion of the merits of the case.  Neither article dealt with the arguments put forth by Jacobovici nor the criticism leveled at him, except in the most cursory fashion.  The story was that someone had made the claim, regardless of whether it was true or not.

This seems to be a constant problem with the news these days, especially in TV and news magazines.  The story is always about the claims.  Rarely does the news deal in an in-depth way with whether or not the claims are valid.  They focus on the battle between the sides, even if one side has no credibility.  They will dutifully begin with the claims, mention that some scholars disagree with the claims, and end by saying that the question is yet to be resolved.  Nothing final is ever stated.

While one might argue that they are trying not to take sides in religious debates, this approach is not limited to stories about religion.  It goes for politics as well.  Take, for instance, the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that emerged to criticize John Kerry in the last presidential race.  The claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans had little basis in fact, but the news media did not care about that.  For them, the story was the fact that this group was criticizing a presidential candidate.  It didn’t matter if their criticisms were valid.  The media felt it was not their job to find out.  Both sides must be presented as equally valid, regardless of the credibility of the claims.

I am not arguing that Time should turn into a scholarly journal.  But if it is going to report on a story, it should at least delve into the question of the validity of the claims that are being made.  And, if the vast majority of scholars think that the claims of non-specialists are way off base, one would think such a fact should be reported.

Of course, the magazine could just be trying to entice readers by offering the same kind of sensationalistic scholarship that it criticizes in the article.  Nah, that couldn’t be it.

The epistle reading in the Episcopal church lectionary today is from 1 Corinthians. In the midst of a recital of the sins of the Israelites during the wilderness period after leaving Egypt, it contains a reference to the fiery serpents of Numbers 21:4-9. I learned a theory about the fiery serpents a few years ago that I thought I would share.

I wanted to preface what I am saying here by noting that this is a only theory. I am not one of those people who try to find naturalistic explanations for everything that happens in the Bible. That was a very common approach in the mid-20th century, with Werner Keller’s The Bible as History being the best known example of this. But Numbers 21 seems to be a case when an identifiable phenomenon seems to lie behind the story, although this in no means detracts from the theological interpretation of this event as punishment from God.

In short, Numbers 21 presents us with a story of fiery serpents that attack the people of Israel. Moses sets up a bronze serpent on a pole, and everyone who looked at was cured. This, of course, is the origin of the caduceus as a sign for the medical profession.

It has been suggested that a worm known as dracunculis lies behind this story. Dracunculis, more commonly known as the guinea worm, is still common, especially in Africa. The Center for Disease Control describes the guinea worm as follows:

Adult female Dracunculus worms emerge from the skin of Infected persons annually. Persons with worms protruding through the skin may enter sources of drinking water and unwittingly allow the worm to release larvae into the water. These larvae are ingested by fresh water copepods (”water fleas”) where these develop into the infective stage in 10-14 days. Persons become infected by drinking water containing the water fleas harboring the infective stage larvae of Dracunculus medinensis.

Once inside the body, the stomach acid digests the water flea, but not the Guinea worm. These larvae find their way to the small intestine, where they penetrate the wall of the intestine and pass into the body cavity. During the next 10-14 months, the female Guinea worm grows to a full size adult 60-100 centimeters (2-3 feet) long and as wide as a cooked spaghetti noodle, and migrates to the site where she will emerge, usually the lower limbs.

A blister develops on the skin at the site where the worm will emerge. This blister causes a very painful burning sensation and it will eventually (within 24-72 hours) rupture. For relief, persons will immerse the affected limb into water, or may just walk in to fetch water. When someone with a Guinea worm ulcer enters the water, the adult female releases a milky white liquid containing millions of immature larvae into the water, thus contaminating the water supply. For several days after it has emerged from the ulcer, the female Guinea worm is capable of releasing more larvae whenever it comes in contact with water.

The Israelite camp in the wilderness south of the Dead Sea could have contained water sources infected with these worms. The burning of the blister could have lead to the designation of the worms as fiery serpents. In addition, a common way of dealing with guinea worms is for the patient to wrap the emerging worm on a stick, winding it up as the worm emerges over several days. This would be the origin of the serpent on a stick that Moses set up.

Fortunately, guinea worms are no longer found in Israel, although they are still found in African countries that are not too far away, including Sudan and Ethiopia. Attempts to eradicate dracunculus continue today, with the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and many other groups working to wipe out these infestations. One thing that slows the process is that some African groups consider their water sources to be sacred, so they will not allow any pesticides to be placed in the water.

I am at one of the definite low points in my life. After six years on the job market, I have yet to land a permanent teaching position. I have done adjunct teaching and one semester sabbatical replacements, while my one long term position did not come with a paycheck. I have been getting somewhat irate at God lately because of my situation.

A number of people have been telling me to be patient, that God will work things out in God’s time. Some have said that God is doing this so I will learn to trust God and others have urged me not to focus on the problem but count the blessings God has given me.

Fortunately, the daily lectionary reading for yesterday included Psalm 70, which had this wonderful line:

But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God!  You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! (Psalm 70:5)

It is always conforting to read the psalms and know that the biblical authors had no problem telling God to hurry up when they needed help. They didn’t wait around and piously count their blessings. They knew they needed things and they needed them immediately! For instance, I have rent coming up at the end of this month. If I don’t get it, I am in trouble. I am poor and needy! Hasten to me, O God! Stop your stalling and help me out!

I think it is very telling that the most common form of psalms is the lament psalm, a prayer to God in time of need. God not only wants us to tell God about our needs. God’s own word even gives us permission to tell God to hurry up. The psalms are the prayer book of the Bible, and we can’t do any better than praying this words.

[N.B. This post is not intended to be taken as a plea for donations. I have found some temporary work, so it is likely that I will be able to earn my rent. The focus of this post is on the psalms, which provide us with the words to tell God that we can’t afford to wait sometimes. It is just nice when our situation and the words of Scripture line up so neatly.]

Tyler Williams of Codex has a very nice article in the SBL Forum on the Biblical Studies Carnival that we hold every month.  If you are new to the biblioblogosphere and would like to get a feel for things, I encourage you to check it out.