Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What do you think of this old Christian poem?
I interpret it as a simple and clever description of the main figures in the bible and why they are special. I also interpret it as an attempt at encouraging you not to look too deeply into these descriptions and accept them to be the wonders they are meant to be and conceivable in full only by God. In a way I think it is being playful but not cheeky. It's playful because it shows the contradictions of "a god and yet a man" etc. as well as makes these contradictions not merely statements but questions. But also, it's not cheeky because it's written with the belief that these contradictions are still true whether or not we have the power of mind to conceive them. And in a way, this celebrates God's greater power of mind. Thus, I do not think it is being critical or subversive. Even though I am not a Christian or believe in a God in its most commonly understood sense, I did like the poem for the reasons listed above. It is provoking for the same reasons. Whether or not it is unproductive nonsense is hard to answer. I might go as far to say that the content, the contradictions (and the belief in them) is nonsense but not unproductive because it is provoking, simple, clever and good to read.
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