The Presence nd bsence Of God - Book Report/Review Example

THE PRESENCE ND BSENCE OF GOD [Nme of the [Nme of the school] The existence of God hs been rgued nd criticized in mny stories by different uthors. Tking the bsis from the Bible, the uthors of number of short nd long stories emphsize on either existence or bsence of God. In the Bible it is sid tht "God's presence in nd bsence from the world re mystery tht is impenetrble to thought nd even more so to mn's senses nd experience. It would seem tht we cn only think nd spek of it in propositions tht re dilecticl, tht is, which cncel ech other out. For if we construct the ide of God s its content demnds, God is both everything (to pn estin utos: Sir 43:27)-for nothing cn be outside God, nor cn nything be dded to him-nd 'exlted bove ll his works' (pr pnt to erg utou: Sir 43:28). For none of these works is God: indeed, ech of them is seprted from him by the infinite distnce nd opposition of bsolute nd reltive. The more God hs to be in ll things if they re to 'be' t ll, the more his presence in them revels him to be utterly different from them: the more he is immnent, the more he is trnscendent. This dilectic is correct in its own prticulr wy, but it sounds empty; religious experience finds it hrd to follow, with the result tht the imges of God in the religions mnifest plurlist diversity. In the following essy I will reflect the bsence nd presence of God in few stories by different uthors including "Go to tell it on the mountin" by Jmes Bldwin nd Douglas Coupland's "Life After God". The first noverl "Go Tell It on the Mountin" by Jmes Bldnwin ws writing in 1953 nd is utobiogrphicl novel bout the role of the Christin Church in the lives of fricn-mericns. The presence of God is described s source of repression nd morl hypocrisy nd s source of inspirtion nd community. It lso, more delictely, exmines rcism in the United Sttes. The opening chpter tells the story of John, young fricn-mericn boy in Hrlem in the erly prt of the 20th century. John is the son of Elizbeth nd her precher husbnd Gbriel, the ltter of whom is strict disciplinrin. Gbriel's religious philosophy is strict nd is one of slvtion through fith in Jesus, without which one is dmned to hell. John htes his fther nd drems of wounding or killing him nd running wy. t the end of Bldwin's 1952 novel Go Tell It on the Mountin, John Grimes, the young protgonist, hs n epiphny or wht is more commonly referred to s visionry conversion experience, stple of mericn religious life. He embrces Jesus nd endures stte of ecsttic mysticism in which he experiences "his drifting soul ... nchored in the love of God" (204). John's rebirth in Christ, his being "sved," is n ffirmtion of one of the strongest bulwrks in the fricn mericn community during slvery, nd especilly since its bolition: the blck church. Bldwin hs sid tht "everything in Blck history comes out of the church." It is "not redemptive force but bridge cross troubled wter,'" Klmu y Slm interviewing Bldwin responded. "It is how we forged our identity" (Prtt nd Stnley 182). The church is the fricn mericn's inheritnce. Blck writers nd the chrcters they crete re not so esily divested of it, nor should they be. Though John Grimes's commitment to Christ is representtive of blck ssimiltion into mericn (white) culture, this doption of Christin beliefs not only helped the community forge stronger connection to their country nd society, but it lso enbled slves nd then emncipted fricns to shore up their sense of self-worth nd vlue. lbert J. Rboteu, writing in his clssic work Slve Religion: The Invisible Institution in the ntebellum South, observes tht "s one institution which freed blcks were llowed to control, the church ws the center of socil, economic, eductionl, nd politicl ctivity. It ws lso source of continuity nd identity for the blck community" (320). Here, Rboteu postultes, blcks were ble to bridge the chsm between the two continents of fric nd meric, between the pst nd the present. It is in this spce (both the literl church enclosure nd the spiritul vult the church creted round its congregnts) tht remembering took plce; it is here tht expression ws given to memory. "Do you believe'" Nn Peznt sks her femle progeny in Julie Dsh's film Dughters of the Dust, "tht hundreds of fricns brought here on this other side would forget everything they once knew'" (96). W. E. B. Du Bois climed tht the double consciousness hunting fricn mericns, the conflict between fricn nd mericn points of view, could be both n empowering nd dislocting phenomenon. mid the twin pressures of retention nd memory, the culturl drm of the fricn mericn slve, nd then free person, ws plyed out. Here, in the lndscpe of exile, the chotic ssemblge of personl nd collective history ws thretened. Du Bois lso climed in 1903 tht the blck church ws not only "the first fro-mericn institution" (150) but tht its music "spr [] ng from the fricn forest, where its counterprt cn still be herd[;] it ws dpted, chnged, nd intensified by the trgic soul-life of the slve, until, under stress of lw nd whip, it becme the one true expression of people's sorrow, despir, nd hope" (146-47). fricn mericn literture, ccording to ben P. . Busi, "hs therefore become drive for self-definition nd redefinition, nd ny discussion of this drive must recognize this, its proper context: We re speking from stte of siege" (2). John Grimes's journey over the course of Go Tell It on the Mountin mirrors this movement from imprisonment to freedom, from vgue sense of self to greter consciousness not only of who he is nd might be but lso of rediness to strt out on the journey to know more. n essentil component of this knowing comes from his visionry experience, which, while it helps to plce John on the bridge fcing est to fric, lso mkes Bldwin's novel trditionl mericn nrrtive of conversion nd redemption. John breks free of the pressures of the streets to seek his own pth vi the church. Unbeknownst to him, the storefront Pentecostl church in which his fther is hed decon hs embedded through its songs nd rituls the elements of fricn worship. These chrcteristic elements mke the church plce where young fricn mericns could develop self-relince nd pride, where they could shrpen esthetic nd intellectul skills (the music nd ortory of the blck church stnd s some of the best exmples of high rt tht meric hs produced in the twentieth century) in order to bttle the forces tht oppress them. In the church, critiqued though it might be s functionry of Europen colonilism, fricn mericns found wy to blend their trditionl form of worship with tht of their new lnd. By doing so, s is seen in the figure of John Grimes, they were ble to trnscend the incessnt horrors of mericn rcism. The spiritul foundtion lid by the church provided its believers with n essentil metphysicl truth tht reched beyond time nd plce nd circumstnce: love s n ntidote to htred, notions of justice s n expression of this love. Bldwin's protgonist reconciles the stte of internl exile he is in by remembering tht in Jesus' eyes he is mn. In church whose style of worship is resonnt of fric, where he is ble to experience "both bptism nd the [RI ing [S] hout nd [where the] biblicl word is both juxtposed nd given expression in the incrntion of the fricn spirit" (Murphy 151), he sees himself powerfully, beutifully, s person ble to initite chnge in his own being nd thus the world. "Lord, I in't / No strnger now!" the congregnts sing s John lifts himself from the floor, his ecsttic vision intct (205). Go Tell It on the Mountin is not simply story of the "gret migrtion" of fricn mericns from the grrin South to the industril North. By including John's step-grndmother's story, the nrrtive spns two centuries of fricn mericn history. Often the trnsposition to northern soil severed the nchoring connection to the blck church. Mny who forfeited this bond fell into n often destructive vcuum fomented by the pthology of n unmitigted rcism nd the trecherous socil nd economic conditions tht were its most obvious symptoms. They could succumb more esily to kind of nihilism, leding lives of debuchery nd self-destruction. s John's mother Elizbeth sys, contemplting the nerly unendurble bombrdment tht blcks nd prticulrly blck men experienced, "Only the love of God could estblish order in this chos; to Him the soul must turn to be delivered" (175). Sometimes this severnce occurred even in the rurl South, s in the cse of Gbriel Grimes, John's stepfther. fter yers of excessive drinking nd sexul promiscuity, Gbriel "fced the lone tree, beneth the nked eye of Heven," nd begged Jesus to forgive nd sve him (96). Born gin in the church, Gbriel rises John nd his other children in strict ccordnce with its doctrine. It is ironic tht Gbriel, who is vehemently nd even violently nti-white, hs immersed himself in white Europen institution. He ssumes tht the Bible is his story, the only story for him, rejecting fric in fvor of church doctrine. Unlike the slves, whose "pproprition of the Exodus story ws ... wy of rticulting their sense of historicl identity s people" (Rboteu 311), Gbriel ccepts the ide of God's wrth to keep himself nd his people out of trouble. He does not dopt the freedom, utonomy, nd exulttion of Exodus but only the prohibitions of Leviticus, the threts nd punishments of n ngry nd jelous Fther. Gbriel, who is constntly struggling to repress wht he considers to be his "bser" instincts, sees world rife with sin nd with little room for forgiveness. Gbriel, of course, is unwre tht fricns were bptized not only to sve their souls but lso to "regulrize nd pcify reltions between slves nd msters" (Rboteu 164). He would reject the notion tht s reverend he is colluding in promoting his own people's pssivity, if not their subjugtion. He most likely does not know how during slvery blcks were encourged to be good Christins nd to submit to their msters' will. By the time Gbriel Grimes hs found his slvtion in the church, he is unwre not only of the tmosphere in which the Gospel ws preched to fricns in meric but lso of the history of fricns in fric. He obviously is not to be fulted for this. Cut off from the orl trditions of fric, with no Moses t Mount Sini to rekindle ncestrl memories nd recrete rituls, Gbriel hs little choice but to use wht is vilble to him to keep himself on the stright nd nrrow. He hs lerned the lesson of despir on his own flesh nd sees the Temple of the Fire Bptized s "n osis in the desert of perdition." The fundmentlism of the Pentecostl church, emphsizing sin nd trnsgression with its "legcy of evngelicl eighteenth-century New Englnd Puritnism nd nineteenth-century Southern Methodism" (Bell 224), is wht he s hed decon feels perfectly comfortble imposing, even through corporl punishment of his children. Even though John, both privtely nd culturlly, suffers from n internl displcement, he is ble to begin his journey up the mountin, where the spiritul process of reveling the truth of his vision through witnessing will become mnifest. Contrry to his life's experience, John is not concerned t the novel's close with the "terrifying possibilities of htred, but [with] the terrifying possibilities of love" (Bell 219). He is now better equipped to del with Gbriel's relentless criticism nd contempt. Even t this moment, when the rest of the congregtion is filled with joy tht one of their young ones hs been sved, ll Gbriel cn mnge to sy, nd tht reluctntly, is: "The wy of holiness is hrd wy. He got the steep side of the mountin to climb" (211). Notwithstnding this oppressive force, nd the power of rcism witing to slp him down s soon s he steps over the threshold of the church nd beyond the borders of Hrlem, John knows tht "out of joy strength cme, strength tht ws fshioned to ber sorrow; sorrow brought forth joy" (217). In the joy of his vision or "spirit possession" s it would be clled in fric, in the ecstsy of the singing nd rhythms of the tmbourines nd hnd-clpping, he is ble to find his wy to the cosmic mountin. This mountin, "one of the imges tht expresses the connection between heven nd erth" (Elide 38), helps fcilitte the merging of the chsm within him, between the intensity nd beuty of his spirit nd the "grimey" wy the world looks upon his person. Bldwin's protgonist hs mnged to find wy to fill the gps in his identity. He hs used the blck church s vehicle to identify himself positively with his community nd unconsciously with fric. The church lso becomes positive link to the white Christin culture in which he finds himself immersed. He will use lnguge to become witness to the collective nd individul experience of fricn mericns, nd he will then "go tell it on the mountin." Like his predecessor who wrote "In the beginning ws the Word, nd the Word ws with God" (John 1:1), young John Grimes recognizes the importnce of experiencing the scred. He intuitively understnds the need to express nd shre this connection with others. Witnessing nd remembering re essentil elements in reconciling the disprte prts of his self. His scension (predicted on his descent on the threshing floor), this hrd-won trek up the mountin, will strengthen the foundtions upon which future reveltions concerning rce, roots, nd religion will rest. In nother book by Dougls Couplnd, "Life fter God" the uthor writes set of stories told in first person bsed on the uthor's memories. The originl theme of the book is the uthor nd his contemporries re the first genertion growing up without religion, with no cler nchor in chnging nd difficult world. In series of more or less relted first-person nrrtives, we witness hrrowing remembrnces of victims' finl moments fter the Bomb hits, bittersweet recollections of love tht fded like pint, nd disturbing descriptions of consciousness blunted by prescription medicine --ll prt of litny ofworries nd tribultions with which Couplnd's too-hip-for-their-own-helth chrcters struggle to cope without the benefit of fith. (The "God" of the title signifies the missingpllitive for humn sorrow nd might be replced by "Mening," "Community," or "College," depending on the experience nd needs of the reder.) The theme of God nd religion is ddressed in vriety of wys. In "Things tht Fly," for exmple, the uthor ddresses the very nture of thought s sequentil ct, nd specultes on the likelihood tht only humns think in sequentil terms. In "The Wrong Sun," nucler wr is ddressed, through the chilling method of hving number of imgined people recount how they spent their lst moments before dying in nucler blst. In the novell entitled "1,000 Yers (Life fter God)" the uthor recounts n idel suburbn childhood, filled with swimming pools nd lrge lwns nd trips into the woods. He then trces the ftes of number of his childhood friends, ll of whom grew up to hve drb, meningless lives. The book ends with the uthor in riny wood fr from other people, sitting lone with his thoughts. fter lifetime of feeling lost, he finlly feels tht he hs come home in rel sense, nd tht fter ll, he does find God necessry to his hppiness. Bibliogrphy: 1. Bldwin, Jmes. Go Tell It on the Mountin. 1952. New York: Dell, 1967. 2. Rboteu, lbert J. Slve Religion: The Invisible Institution in the ntebellum South. New York: Oxford UP, 1978. 3. Bell, Bernard. The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 1987. 4. 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