A Lesson from the Pagans (2)
Who is like You among the gods, Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?Exodus 15:11 NASB
Among the gods – Walter F. Otto’s seminal work, Dionysus: Myth and Cult, offers important insights into the religious structure of ancient civilizations. In particular, it challenges our modern re-interpretation of these ancient systems because it illuminates our penchant to view all human behavior through a contemporary lens, a lens that has been shaped by the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Such was not the view of ancient worlds. A few citations from Otto should readjust our appreciation for the striking difference between us and the ancients, a difference that must be enlisted when we read the texts arising from those who lived before the Captivity.
For no serious observer can avoid the impression that cultus is the most alien of all the elements which seem foreign to modern thought. Consequently, the concepts of utility and self-interest may well be the least suited to explain genuine cult practices.[1]
We must either abandon the assertion that man once consciously believed in a god worthy of the name, or we must confess that the first manifestation, by whose vision man was overcome, must have produced ecstasy, devotion, allegiance, and exaltation.[2]
Why was the ancient world so saturated with the feeling of God? Otto remarks: “Man must give utterance to the feeling of awe which has seized him. There was a time when he did this by building temples, a form of expression which the gigantic undertaking of cathedral construction has continued even into the centuries which lie before us. . . It testifies that the Almighty was so near that man had to offer his own being as the form in which this proximity could be expressed . . .”[3]
Notice the motivation for worship. It is absolutely not the systematic adumbration of logical belief structures. It is the presence of the divine—an experiential overload that cannot be denied and, perhaps, cannot be analyzed. We read about these events as external observers but we don’t live them. We are not Moses at the burning bush, the Israelites at Sinai, Isaiah in his vision. We are the victims of theological analysis, of creeds, of practiced rituals. And what is the result? A passive religion, capable of political application but devoid of fervor and ecstasy. We are on the brink of becoming sycophants of the “non-religious” man, believers for whom faith has devolved into correct beliefs. Platitudes. Doctrines. Creeds. Prayer books. Without life.
The men and women of the biblical era were not believers in this modern sense. They were victims of God’s power, transformed, captivated, mutated into devoted followers. Thousands of years later we hardly know what that means.
Topical Index: cult, experience, creed, theology, awe, Exodus 15:11
[1] Walter F. Otto, Dionysus: Myth and Cult (Spring Publications, 1965), p. 14.
[2] Ibid., p. 15.
[3] Ibid., p. 19.
“…the presence of the divine—an experiential overload that cannot be denied and, perhaps, cannot be analyzed…” is the shared existential experience of a great multitude of humankind.
But the overwhelming sense of awe that transcends all apparent human capacity is apace for exchange… in reciprocation… of an overwhelming smugness of assurance vested in the human capacity of achievement and attainment. Even death itself is now being viewed by some as a “condition” that will ultimately be overcome by human ingenuity.
This proud similitude has no doctrine except the arrogant pride acquired of deception.
And you yourself said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise up my throne above the stars of God;
and I will sit on the mountain of assembly
on the summit of Zaphon;
I will ascend to the high places of the clouds,
I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14:13-15)
The descendants of evildoers will not be mentioned for eternity! (Isaiah 14:20)
Thanks be to God… I am a victim of God’s power… now transformed, captivated, and mutated— into a devoted follower.
The vocabulary that gets thrown around in these articles and comments puts me on overload…🙂…adumbration! Had to look that one up…second new word in a matter of days…kerygma was the first…there was a man I encountered years ago named Ed Cole…during the 80’s prophetic movement…his ministry was called “Maximized Manhood”! He would purposely throw out big college words and then say “look it up dummy” with a big smile. He was one of the few men I’ve encountered in ministry who seemed to have the heart of a father towards others. So every time I encounter new big words that put me on overload I hear his voice in my head kiddingly say “look it up dummy”. Thanks for the new words gentlemen….from someone who was once accused of being a reluctant student.
But to the discussion…isn’t experiential overload and awe kind of the point of the Biblical story? Not that I mean it’s just about “our” experience (my truth!), but Who causes the experience? My first church is one I like to remember as “flaming charismatic”. We would derisively speak of the extra numbers of people who always came out when we had a week of preaching and teaching from those known as prophets. Even before that church, and becoming “born again”, I had experiences with the dark and the light that set the expectation that there was supposed to be something deeply experiential between oneself and God, and becoming a part of a deeply charismatic church reinforced that expectation, as did the scriptural record as I began to be exposed to it. One can certainly get carried away seeking signs and wonders, and Yeshua spoke directly to that danger. But what do we have, if anything at all, if we can’t point to an experience(or experiences) that rocked us and say, “I KNOW He exists”. Encounters that underscore the pursuit mentioned in Psalm 23…surely goodness and love will pursue me…I’m sure you’ve heard the saying in sports…”hearing footsteps” meaning you have a sense someone is coming for you…someone is after you…and as Chambers I think said “mystery is destroyed by a word”.
My apologies in advance for my verbosity. These daily studies light me up, and even though across many miles, and the magic of the internet, still feel like fellowship. How’s that for an excuse? God bless…
Please, Kent… make no apologies for being “lit up” in the fellowship of faith and, together, in our meager attempt to articulate that experience of relationship de facto. It’s a joy to receive God’s blessing through your shared participation and insight!
The substance of that fellowship is articulated—most fully and comprehensibly—through the Divine fellowship made comprehendible by means of the express relationship of Divine union shared by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit… and it is caused… and shared also with us of God (per adumbration; that is “a ration provided to us dumb-ees”), both within and beyond our human understanding.
Experiential overload and awe? How can it be otherwise?
Amen Richard…amen…