The Javelin, the Dagger, & the Stake

Dear listeners,

One of the stranger parts of making this show has been revisiting the bloody Bible stories I loved most as a child.

These were not embarrassing passages that my family tried to explain away. They were some of our favorites. We admired the people in these stories. I even used one of their names as a password for years, and one of my closest cousins is named after another. To us, these were stories about faithfulness, courage, and conviction.

Reading them now, I’m not exactly thrilled at the idea of my own children cheering as someone drives a tent stake through another person’s head … but I also find that I can’t dismiss these stories as simply barbaric relics of a more primitive age. Because the more I’ve thought about them, the more I’ve realized: we’ve never stopped telling stories like this. Our heroes still defeat irredeemable villains. Audiences still cheer when evil finally gets what it deserves. The costumes may have changed (just swap in Tony Stark wearing an Iron Man suit for the priest wielding a javelin) — but the underlying impulse certainly hasn’t.

So … is there danger in stories like these? And if so, what is it?

Listen on: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

That’s a question I wanted to wrestle with in this episode. I can’t wait to hear what you think about this one — both the holy stabbings and their implications for our moment in history.

One last thing: If you’d like to help Book Keeper continue to grow and find new listeners, one of the easiest and most helpful things you can do is to leave a rating and a review on Apple and/or Spotify. It really contributes to more people discovering the show.

Yours,

Megan