A diverse collection of lectures and papers,
published and unpublished
Biblical Wilderness and the Wild Places of the Earth
A paper examining the work of two Old Testament scholars, Robert Barry Leal and Terry L Burden, in their understanding of biblical wilderness alongside the wilderness writings of John Muir. Presented at a Workshop at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, 2006 and subsequently published in the Journal of European Baptist Studies, vol 7, no 1, September 2006, pp 44-57, with documentation and bibliography.
Did Steinbeck Know H Wheeler Robinson?
A paper relating John Steinbeck's understanding of Community to Wheeler Robinson's theory of Corporate Personality, clarifying the similarities and differences. Published in Steinbeck Studies, vol 15, no 1, Spring 2004, pp 73-87, with documentation and bibliography.
Did Steinbeck Have a Suffering Servant?
An examination of Steinbeck's relationship with people in his life and the characters in his fiction to see how far they resembled Isaiah's Suffering Servant Isaiah (42: 1-4; 49: 1-6; 50: 4-9; 52: 13-53: 1-12), the idea of corporate personality and the Hebrew concept of the One and the Many, coming to the conclusion that Steinbeck's closest friend and confidant, Ed Ricketts comes very close. Presented at the Bible and Literature Day at the University of Sussex, 2002 and in an abridged version at the Steinbeck Centennial Conference in New York, with documentation and bibliography.
John Steinbeck's View of God
An examination of the writings of Steinbeck to explore his approach to religion through three windows, which cannot be isolated from each other and most of which turn up in nearly everything he wrote, though the emphases vary. First, biblical references, sometimes in titles, sometimes in people and sometimes in content,The Grapes of Wrath[5] and East of Eden being the two most obvious examples. Second, biblical themes and imagery, such as the wilderness, sibling jealousy, water, and theological experiences (if not language) relating to guilt, sin and forgiveness. Third, the characters he creates and the characters whose company he obviously enjoys which tell us something about the values he embraces and are a reflection of the ‘God’ who motivates him. Published [as John Steinbeck], in The Expository Times, vol 112 no 6, March 2001, pp 192-196, with documentation.
Rumour of God
Is the quest for biblical symbolism and
allusion in Steinbeck exhausted?
Or is it just beginning? Suggestions for a different way of handling it which could open up Steinbeck to a whole new range of readers.
Biblical Wilderness in The Grapes of Wrath
Otherness is a natural
part of our humanity. In infancy it is the way we begin to understand our
world. As we mature it is the way we perceive and relate to the people around.
It is a means of understanding ourselves. Caution, suspicion and fear are
natural ingredients. But what happens when we become involved in ‘a
non-existent other’, the figment of imagination or the fruit of manipulation?
We explore the themes and emotions of otherness in us all as presented in the
variety of characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, especially the ‘other’ that we all fear but cannot
leave alone, to the point where in Atticus we find an ‘other’ of a different
order and find ourselves surprised by the ‘other’ whom we feared.
Paper
read to the Faculty and Postgrad Workshop at the International Baptist
Theological Seminary, Prague. For the full version (with documentation) see
Michael J Meyer (ed), Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. New
Essays, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Toronto and Plymouth UK, 2010, Chapter 15, pp
231-248.