The Dragon of Chaos and the Splitting of the Shellfish

Time to herald the Lambeth Conference. Time to move on from Gafcon. Time to praise the Lord, and with a mere minor weekend schism in between now and then when the General Synod meets in York, we can at last shift our attention to the big event of the decade, Lambeth 2008. I was enjoying a rare day off today but have been been inspired to blog once more by reading the Bible studies up on the Lambeth website, just relaunched, with a wealth of good material. You might find some other enjoyable bits but this is my favourite so far, from the Lambeth study booklet Signs on the Way. Thank you to the Lambeth Design Group for this timely reminder of why it is sometimes fun to be an Anglican.

'If the sign involves Jesus walking on the sea, what does it signify? Here two Old Testament traditions can add to our understanding. The first originated in the widely influential religious traditions of Mesopotamia, the birthplace of Abraham. According to the Mesopotamian creation account, vast primordial waters that filled the universe had always existed. These waters were personified as a fearsome, consuming dragon that intended to destroy all the younger gods. One strong young god conquered this dragon of chaos by piercing it, standing on its back and finally splitting it in half like a shellfish. He then set about creating the world in the open space he had made between the two watery halves. This very ancient and well-known creation tradition was poetically adapted by the Israelites to praise God, as we can see for example in Psalm 74:12–17 and Psalm 89:5–11. Even more pertinent for us in this Bible study is the poetic picture of the LORD treading on the back of the sea monster in Job 9:8, and walking on the sea in Psalm 77:16–20. The Israelites were using the language of their time to express the mystery of God acting in their lives. For them, it was the LORD who had divided the waters on the second day of creation (Genesis 1:6–8), and the LORD who split the Red Sea in order to redeem his people.

'Now the breathtaking claim of our Gospel story can be heard. It is not about a showy miracle to prove that Jesus is not bound by the laws of nature. No, John is telling us something much more profound about who Jesus is: ‘Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen’ (Psalm 77:19). The point is not that Jesus can walk on water, but that he rules the sea. This earthly Jesus makes visible the glory of the Creator of the heavens and the earth who is the Redeemer of Israel.'

Comments

[saint]

Tim - I reckon Riazat may be more informed and just being cheeky but nevertheless... So Riazat goes off and googles up some of the ANE background, would that be enough for her to make sense of this reflection (which isn't exactly bad).

But seriously, what would an Anglican recommend to someone who read this and is not a Christian?

(And David, I did suggest elsewhere why the I AMs might not have been chosen!)

[Tim]

They're talking about the Babylonian myth of Tiamat and Marduk. Google it.

[David Palmer]

Very naughty, Saint, you might embarrass them - John 14:6 perhaps?

[Peter Kirk]

Riazat, I suggest you ask Dave Walker to draw you a map!

[saint]

That in a sense, is a good question Riazat.

What would an Anglican recommend Riazat do?

[riazat]

Hmm, do you think the Anglican Communion office hands out satnavs for Lambeth virgins? I am clearly lost