GOP Gospel: The Beatitudes
Mar. 23rd, 2021 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinDay 29 of my Lent project. For background, please read this.
A reading from the Gospel according to the GOP:
Matthew 5:3-12
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
The Beatitudes are some of the best-known verses in Christian scripture, and some of the most perplexing. At times they resemble the 'sound of one hand clapping'-type paradoxes contemplated in Eastern traditions, which are not so much about the literal meaning as the act of holding the paradox in your head and seeing what it reveals. In another translation, 'blessed' is rendered as 'happy', giving you 'happy are those who mourn' which is absurd, superficially, and yet ... could he be trying to say something deeper by that? Jesus' own teachings, and more explicitly those who followed immediately after him, are about how to live ethically and constructively in a community – forgiveness vs retribution, generosity vs quid-pro-quo, 'greater good' pragmatism vs assiduous legality – and in that light, the blessedness of those who mourn is that, in the drawing together of mourner and comforter, the interdependence of humanity is underlined and reinforced. As Paul later said, we are all members of one body.
As mentioned in the introductory post to this series, a couple of years ago I set out to explain Réné Girard's theory of the Scapegoat. This is founded on the observation that human societies the world over often retrace a simple pattern of uniting against a common enemy, eliminating that enemy, and enjoying the peace and unity that follows immediately after. Everyone's personal strife gets redirected at the nominated foe, and when the foe is vanquished, it takes a little while for the simmering tensions to reassert themselves. Every time the internal tension reaches a crisis point, another scapegoat is found, and the tension released, just as a bolt of lightning momentarily equalizes the charge differential between the cloud and the ground. Such cycles of collective violence are often found encoded in mythology, and rituals of sacrifice (according to Girard) arose as a way to formalise the mechanism and keep it under control.
The Bible, like any mythology, contains echoes of collective violence, and one example is how the people of Israel tended to gang up on the mouthpiece of God for saying things they didn't like and generally rocking the boat. Jesus refers to this history a few times in his ministry, and – spoiler alert – undergoes exactly the same fate himself. It hadn't occurred to me before, though, that it's also the idea at the centre of the final two Beatitudes. The Bible, Girard contends, is unique among mythologies in that it takes the side of the scapegoat: God is always on the side of the victim, not the mob. So when Jesus says 'blessed are the persecuted' this is what he means: the scapegoats, the bullied, the outcast, the recipients of the animosity transferred from everyone else's lives; they are the ones God smiles upon.
When I first heard the CBC radio series that introduced me to Girard, one particular conclusion blew my mind, and upended my understanding of everything: When we (quite rightly!) judge Christianity for scapegoating people and groups, as it has done throughout history, we are judging it by the values the Bible has given us. We are just so used to those values permeating the civilisation under which we live that we think they are self-evident. But if you look at other ancient cultures, they are not. The victim of collective violence in mythology always deserves what is meted out to them; it is a necessary driving out of evil in order to purify society, or a sacrifice to placate an angry god. The Bible keeps telling us this is wrong, whatever it might look like at the time, and Jesus' life (and especially death) puts the innocence of the scapegoat front and centre.
No one could possibly claim there isn't a scapegoating crisis in the US right now (and indeed worldwide, but I'm focusing on the US in these posts). It is undeniably practised by both sides, but it seems to be more organised, more accepted, and more unanimous on the Right, who will happily scapegoat religious, sexual, and ethnic minorities while claiming to be the persecuted ones themselves. It's all scapegoats everywhere you look. But the thread that keeps running through the big fat book they keep waving around is that scapegoating is wrong, no matter which side of the mob you're on. It's not a matter of which scapegoat is the right scapegoat, but that there should not be a scapegoat at all. And until we figure out how to get there – which may have something to do with the forgiveness, generosity, and pragmatism mentioned above – Jesus wants us to know that the scapegoats, and not their persecutors, are blessed.
A reading from the Gospel according to the GOP:
"Blessed are the proactive, for they shall achieve success.
Blessed are the cheerful, for when you laugh, the whole world laughs with you.
Blessed are the assertive, for they shall win friends and influence people.
Blessed are those who respect the law and authorities, for they shall live in peace and prosperity.
Blessed are the firm, for they shall not be taken advantage of.
Blessed are the pragmatic, for they get things done.
Blessed are the warriors, for they bring freedom to the world.
Blessed are those who are proud to call themselves Christian, for their testimony enlightens the godless.
Blessed are you when you unite with your brothers and sisters to correct unrighteousness in my name and drive out the evildoer. Rejoice and be glad, for by your collective strength you purify the community in the eyes of God and come closer in union with each other, and on such unity is civilization founded."
Matthew 5:3-12
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
The Beatitudes are some of the best-known verses in Christian scripture, and some of the most perplexing. At times they resemble the 'sound of one hand clapping'-type paradoxes contemplated in Eastern traditions, which are not so much about the literal meaning as the act of holding the paradox in your head and seeing what it reveals. In another translation, 'blessed' is rendered as 'happy', giving you 'happy are those who mourn' which is absurd, superficially, and yet ... could he be trying to say something deeper by that? Jesus' own teachings, and more explicitly those who followed immediately after him, are about how to live ethically and constructively in a community – forgiveness vs retribution, generosity vs quid-pro-quo, 'greater good' pragmatism vs assiduous legality – and in that light, the blessedness of those who mourn is that, in the drawing together of mourner and comforter, the interdependence of humanity is underlined and reinforced. As Paul later said, we are all members of one body.
As mentioned in the introductory post to this series, a couple of years ago I set out to explain Réné Girard's theory of the Scapegoat. This is founded on the observation that human societies the world over often retrace a simple pattern of uniting against a common enemy, eliminating that enemy, and enjoying the peace and unity that follows immediately after. Everyone's personal strife gets redirected at the nominated foe, and when the foe is vanquished, it takes a little while for the simmering tensions to reassert themselves. Every time the internal tension reaches a crisis point, another scapegoat is found, and the tension released, just as a bolt of lightning momentarily equalizes the charge differential between the cloud and the ground. Such cycles of collective violence are often found encoded in mythology, and rituals of sacrifice (according to Girard) arose as a way to formalise the mechanism and keep it under control.
The Bible, like any mythology, contains echoes of collective violence, and one example is how the people of Israel tended to gang up on the mouthpiece of God for saying things they didn't like and generally rocking the boat. Jesus refers to this history a few times in his ministry, and – spoiler alert – undergoes exactly the same fate himself. It hadn't occurred to me before, though, that it's also the idea at the centre of the final two Beatitudes. The Bible, Girard contends, is unique among mythologies in that it takes the side of the scapegoat: God is always on the side of the victim, not the mob. So when Jesus says 'blessed are the persecuted' this is what he means: the scapegoats, the bullied, the outcast, the recipients of the animosity transferred from everyone else's lives; they are the ones God smiles upon.
When I first heard the CBC radio series that introduced me to Girard, one particular conclusion blew my mind, and upended my understanding of everything: When we (quite rightly!) judge Christianity for scapegoating people and groups, as it has done throughout history, we are judging it by the values the Bible has given us. We are just so used to those values permeating the civilisation under which we live that we think they are self-evident. But if you look at other ancient cultures, they are not. The victim of collective violence in mythology always deserves what is meted out to them; it is a necessary driving out of evil in order to purify society, or a sacrifice to placate an angry god. The Bible keeps telling us this is wrong, whatever it might look like at the time, and Jesus' life (and especially death) puts the innocence of the scapegoat front and centre.
No one could possibly claim there isn't a scapegoating crisis in the US right now (and indeed worldwide, but I'm focusing on the US in these posts). It is undeniably practised by both sides, but it seems to be more organised, more accepted, and more unanimous on the Right, who will happily scapegoat religious, sexual, and ethnic minorities while claiming to be the persecuted ones themselves. It's all scapegoats everywhere you look. But the thread that keeps running through the big fat book they keep waving around is that scapegoating is wrong, no matter which side of the mob you're on. It's not a matter of which scapegoat is the right scapegoat, but that there should not be a scapegoat at all. And until we figure out how to get there – which may have something to do with the forgiveness, generosity, and pragmatism mentioned above – Jesus wants us to know that the scapegoats, and not their persecutors, are blessed.
may I link?
Date: 2021-03-23 05:32 pm (UTC)I'd like to link to your posts on the group weblog MetaFilter, if I may. May I post a link to your gopgospel series there?
Re: may I link?
Date: 2021-03-23 05:34 pm (UTC)You absolutely may if you wish! If I didn't want them seen by the public, I wouldn't post them on a public blog. :) Do please relay any feedback you think might be interesting/useful/appreciated!
Re: may I link?
Date: 2021-03-23 05:47 pm (UTC)Re: may I link?
Date: 2021-03-23 06:05 pm (UTC)Re: may I link?
Date: 2021-03-23 06:34 pm (UTC)Re: may I link?
Date: 2021-03-23 08:42 pm (UTC)Tealin, am I right in remembering that the whole concept of the scapegoat in the Old Testament is not what we make it to be now? As in the scapegoat bore the sin “out of the camp” but was not the source/instigator/responsible for the sin.
(Sorry to post anonymous, wouldn’t know my identity URL if it hit me up side my head)
Re: may I link?
Date: 2021-03-23 08:55 pm (UTC)questions/notes from MetaFilter
Date: 2021-03-23 09:23 pm (UTC)One person asks which translation you're using. Am I right in recalling that mostly you're using NRSV except in a few cases where you use King James?
One person notes "I immediately cackled when I saw this premise."
Another: "Hoo boy, those family values ones. I do genuinely wonder if some Christians would even notice if these were read from the pulpit."
And another links to a similar effort, "Jesus vs Jeezus" by Tim Kreider, 2005. I have been reminded of Fred Clark's readings of the Left Behind books at Slacktivist, which also dig into the twisted theology you are illustrating.
Re: questions/notes from MetaFilter
Date: 2021-03-24 08:30 am (UTC)Thanks for the comments! I look forward to checking out Jesus vs Jeezus, sounds intriguing!
no subject
Date: 2021-03-23 10:20 pm (UTC)