Searching for the Self: Classic Stories, Christian Scripture, and the Quest for Personal Identity

by Adrian T. Smith

In terms of the panorama of the entire Bible, the narrative sequence Eden to Exile to New Eden could also be studied as a large-scale instance of voyage-and-return,288 especially if one emphasizes how the wanderer gets home (and what the wanderer learns from the experience).

Bookends

Imagine these verses as pictures on the front and back covers of a book: Genesis 2:10–12; 3:22 . . . Revelation 21:18–21; 22:1–2. What do you see? Rivers, trees, minerals and gemstones. Does the repetition of images imply the storyline inside the book?

At the center of this new paradise, Solomon builds a temple decorated with tapestries of palm trees and “cherubim” (1 Kings 6:29)—the latter a reminder of the mysterious guardians of Eden (Gen 3:24).

Resolution (partial)

Jesus recapitulates Israel’s history, inaugurating a new “exodus”** with his journey to Jerusalem, where his cross, denoting exile from God, becomes a gateway to paradise (Luke 23:43). Jesus’ journey to the true epicenter of sacred space (Hebrews 6:17–20) paves the way for the Christian pilgrimage into “rest” (Heb 4:9–11) and into the “heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb 12:22–24).

Notice that the New Testament depicts the resolution of the search for paradise as occurring in two phases: “partial” and “complete.” This two-phase resolution of the biblical narrative is the key to unlocking the meaning of the New Testament. Without this two-phase perspective, “the entire New Testament is a book with seven seals,” tight-wrapped in riddles that block our attempts to understand it.292

Songs of Ascent

Indeed, Psalms 120–34 are almost the equivalent of an ancient “concept album” (to borrow a term from the popular music of the 1970s).

Imagery

The core imagery of our three psalms intertwines the spheres of architecture, agriculture, and domestic culture. Architecturally, we hear repeated mention of “Zion,” “the city,” “Jerusalem,” and the “house” (Pss 126:1; 127:1; 128:3, 5). Agricultural references abound: sowing and reaping (Ps 126:5–6); produce (Ps 128:2). Agricultural imagery also provides metaphors of domestic culture: wife as “fruitful vine”; children as “olive shoots” (Ps 128:3). More allusively, does the “seed” reference (Ps 126:5–6) possibly echo the promise to Abraham, of innumerable descendants (Gen 12:1–3)? Also worth a mention: the equating of children with an “inheritance” from God (Ps 127:3)—vocabulary used elsewhere in the Old Testament to reference the land of Israel.

Seq...

Next, imagine our psalm-cluster as a sequence of scenes in a film. As the “camera” moves through the verses, notice the spatial plot dynamic. In Psalm 126, the camera glimpses a return to Zion, irrigation of the Negeb (dry southern region of Israel), and a field of grain. Psalm 127 starts in the house, and moves to the city, ending up in the “gates” of the city (the place fo...

All these movements capture a key dimension of culture-building, namely, the “definition” of space, by designati...

Plot

The scenes of our psalm-cluster also hint at a temporal plot dynamic. In Psalm 126:5–6, those who scatter seed begin with weeping, but harvest with rejoicing. In Psalm 128:5–6, the blessed live to see the prospering of Jerusalem, and their own grandchildren. Most interestingly, Psalm 126:1 speaks of the reversal of Zion’s captivity/exile ...

Metanarrative This motif, of reversing captivity/exile, offers us the overarching metanarrative alluded to in our cluster of psalms, na...

This storyline is also echoed in the references to children as “fruit of the womb,” and wife as “fruitful vine” (Pss 127:3; 128:3). These phrases employ the same Hebrew root used in the primordial mandate of Genesis 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply!” Furthermore, in another allusion to the Eden narrative, Psalm 127:2 contrasts “eating the bread of the toilers” with the peaceful sleep God gives to those he loves...

In conclusion, Psalms 126–28 offers us the possibility of locating our mundane domestic micro-stories inside a macro-story of the re-inauguration of paradise. (Lest this claim sound ludicrously utopian, Psalm 126:4 witnesses to the ongoing incompleteness of the story!) The paradise-renewal storyline involves the gro...

The primordial paradise described in Genesis 1–3 was perfect, yet incomplete. Very good, but not yet glorified. The gold and gemstones (Gen 2:11–12) remained under the rocks, symbolizing the unrealized potential of the world—potential to bring forth even greater beauty. In our domestic environments, we have the opportunity to designate space as an environment for human flourishing, a place ...

10 Finding Neverland In our previous chapter, we traced the big plotlines of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In this chapter, we zoom our lens in for a closer look at the New Testament. I will explain the special structure of the story found in the various books of the New Testament. Along the way, I will comment on the Christian experience of indwelling the story of the New Testament.

New Testament Storylines

“The Bible is a strange story, because it ends in the middle.”293 To explain this aphorism, we need another. “[Apocalyptic is] the mother of Christian Theology.”294 To explain this aphorism, we need a backstory. Nowadays, scholars refer t...

The apocalyptic mindset sees resolution of Israel’s crisis in a colossal act of divine intervention.

This momentous epiphany, “The Day of Yahweh,” cleaves history into two discrete eras (as displayed in the diagram on the next page, where X denotes “The Day of Yahweh.”) Fig. 2. Jewish Eschatology

In the perspective of the New Testament writers, the end-times began two thousand years ago!

Hebrews 1:2 declares that God spoke to us by his Son “at the end of these days [of the prophets and patriarchs].”

As one theologian has put it: “The significance of Jesus’ resurrection, for Saul of Tarsus as he lay blinded . . . on the road to Damascus, was this. The one true God had done for Jesus of Nazareth, in the middle of time, what Saul had thought he was going to do for Israel at the end of time.”295

The CliffsNotes diagram for the New Testament storyline piggybacks on Jewish apocalyptic, but now looks like this (where X-1 denotes the first advent of Christ, and X-2 the second advent): Fig. 3. Christian Eschatology

Theologians have scratched their heads over how to explain such a story—It is finished / No it isn’t.

Some explained it by analogy with the Second World War: D-day and V-day. The decisive battle in a war may occur long before the war itself is finally over.296 This analogy works quite well for those of us whose parents fought in the Second World War. I use it all the time in my classroom teaching.

For instance, the book of Revelation (7:9–17) depicts the end of God’s movie as an ecstatic multi-ethnic celebration of the redemption wrought by Christ. What a contrast with our typical Sunday-morning church services (aptly described by Dr. King as “The most [racially] segregated hour of Christian America.”) Multi-ethnic church can be messy—but what a movie trailer it can be, when members of diverse “tribes” imagine into present reality the future scene from Revelation 7.

Dimension of Life Impact of New Testament Storyline Creeds and Confessions of Faith The now encourages certainty in central truths; The not yet encourages humility in lesser matters Church Purity and Discipline The now encourages the gracious use of discipline to maintain the peace and purity of the church; The not yet encourages us to remain as members of imperfect churches. Holiness The now enables us to fight our personal sins from a position of strength; The not yet guards against perfectionist delusions Physical Suffering The now encourages us to pray for healing; The not yet encourages patient endurance Social Transformation The now encourages us to work for the improvement of society; The not yet guards against utopian delusions

Canonical Unit Image for Plotline of “Finished but Unfinished” Narrative Archetype Synoptic Gospels Kingdom Dragon Slaying; Ascent John’s Gospel (“Eternal”) Life Rebirth Paul Resurrection Rebirth Hebrews Sacred Space Quest James Harvest Ascent Revelation Victory in Holy War Dragon Slaying

Synoptic Gospels

This kingdom narrative seems to borrow from two archetypal plots, namely, “dragon slaying” and “ascent.” The former, because the arrival of the kingdom of God undermines the realpolitik of the existing world order. The latter, because the kingdom requires the comprehensive cultivation of a new order.

The story of liberation intersects those “dragon-slaying” plots where the “dragon” acts as a “holdfast,” imprisoning its victims.302

John’s Gospel

When we turn from the three Synoptics to the Gospel of John, the absence of “kingdom” vocab...

Even conservative scholars recognize that John “translated” the kingdom vocabulary of Jesus into a different idiom, namely, “[eternal] life.”303 (The Greek term aeonic, which we render “eternal,” denotes the age-of-glory; the focus is therefore more on quality of life and less on temporal duration.) When John wants to summarize the purpose of Jesus, and the purpose of the Fourth Gospel, he relies on the image of “life” (John 3:16; 20:31). This is clearly a rebirth archetype.

What can we learn from John’s radical vocabulary shift from “kingdom” to “life”? The shift (away from the more political metaphor of kingdom) involved some adaptation to his audience and setting.304 I believe we can emulate this. Consider the following anecdote. Several years ago, at the annual general assembly of a rather conservative American Presbyterian denomination, the assembly invited a representative non-Christian to address the floor. The non-Christian told the assembly, “If you want outsiders to listen to your message, you need to stop saying kingdom every time you open your mouths. When you use that term, all that unbelievers hear is the agenda of the religious Right.”

Paul When we turn to the letters of Paul, we find that he, like John, employs a rebirth archetype in his narrative of the gospel. Specifically, Paul uses the category of resurrection to express both the present and the future dimensions of Christian experience (Romans 6:1–10 and 8:18–25).305

Whilst resurrection obviously belongs to the rebirth archetype, it is striking that Paul virtually eschews the vocabulary of rebirth, even when explaining (Rom 6) the spiritual renewal of believers.306 Rather, Paul insists on speaking of renewal in terms of resurrection. There are several reasons why. Using resurrection underscores participation in the story of Jesus. Using resurrection emphasizes the holistic character of redemption, encompassing the material realm. Using resu...

He...

The writer pays more attention to sacred space than any of his colleagues.307

He views the Christian life as a pilgrimage, a quest to reach holy ground. He depicts the object of the quest as a future goal, commanding the reader to strive to enter the promised rest (Heb 4:11). At the same time, he declares that we already enjoy access to the inmost sanctuary (Heb 10:19). This paradox, whereby we do and do not occupy sacred space, finds expression in Heb 12:22–24, which locates the Christian in the suburbs of the heavenly city, so to speak.

J...

James’s pervasive concern with wisdom suggests the archetypal plotline of ascent, given wisdom literature’s goal of producing maturity in the reader. Indeed, the Greek word teleios (“mature”; “perfect”) and its cognates occur eight times in the letter.309 The term connotes the proper destiny of humanity.

Revelation The last book of the canon has all the “final conflict” imagery of a graphic novel, complete with a fiery red dragon (Rev 12:3). No prizes for guessing which plot archetype we are dealing with here.

Popular expositions of Revelation locate the victory over the dragon entirely in the future. However, a closer reading of the book suggests that Revelation shares the narrative DNA of the rest of the New Testament. Paradoxically, the victory has already occurred in the past, despite being delayed into the future!