In my childhood home we were not allowed to call someone a “fool” because the Bible says not to do such a thing. Curiously, the biblical writers themselves seem not to share that compunction, because they say that naughty word a lot. This past weekend, as part of our “Heroes and Villains” series, we heard the story of wise Abigail and surly Nabal, whose name actually means “fool.” By the time of Shakespeare, “the fool” had been elevated to a job in the King’s court.
The journey from Nabal to Shakespeare’s fool is such that perhaps an overview of fools and foolishness may be in order. Here’s a brief one:
The Psalms have the phrase that may be the most recognizable and difficult appraisal of a “fool”: “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1 and 53:1) As I mentioned last weekend, I do not read that to signify theoretical atheism or agnosticism. There are plenty of reasons to doubt the existence of God – starting with the fact that so many pathetic descriptions of God bandied about in churches these days. No, I think this description is much more about practical atheism – someone who lives as if there is no meaning to existence, no justice beyond what the pretenses of those in power, and no ultimate purpose to human life. To declare the world “godless” in that sense almost always ends up leading to a “might makes right” philosophy of life. Notably, the book of Proverbs begins by recognizing that reverence for God is the beginning of knowledge (1:7).
The story of Nabal widens the definition of “fool” from someone who thinks the world is independent of transcendent meaning to someone who thinks he is independent from everyone else. Nabal imagines himself a “self-made man” indebted to no one, while wise Abigail realizes their interdependence with the likes of David and his band of warriors (I Samuel 25). Putting the psalmists’ definition and the Nabal story together, the “fool” sounds tragically contemporary: One who exchanges transcendence and interdependence for the pipedream of a self-willed, self-made, thoroughly self-centric life. (I’ll circle back to this below.)
The mother lode of biblical references to foolishness is found in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, along with the Apocryphal books The Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus. That should not be surprising, given that these books are part of what is called collectively “Wisdom Literature.” The writers of those books seem most focused on the habits and consequences of foolishness, among which is the shame a fool brings to parents.
In the New Testament, the idea of a “fool” continues to morph. The reason my parents forbade us using the term “fool” about someone else is because in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus prohibits it (Matthew 5:22). As a child, it worked well enough to imagine that the word “fool” was simply a naughty word. The prohibition, however, seems less about bad words and more about taking away one’s ability to fully participate in community. I wonder if declaring someone a fool were a 1stcentury way of declaring them insane, therefore incapable of rational participation in matters of faith, business, governance, and so forth. Perhaps declaring someone a fool in public at least put them on the defensive and under suspicion. I think we have to go beyond thinking of “fool” simply as a bad word, because Jesus himself used it later to critique the “blind guides” who assigned more value to gold of the sanctuary than to the sanctuary itself (Matthew 23:16-23).
The most curious twist of the word “fool,” however, comes in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Paul uses the word in two ways, one in his letter to the church in Rome, and another in this first letter to the church in Corinth. In Romans, Paul uses the word “fool” similarly to how I interpret the psalmists’ use – those who exchange the glory of God for images resembling humans and animals. That sounds like a description of idolatry, but it helps to remember that idolatry is not simply someone who thinks magic thoughts about idols, objects made of wood, stone, or metal. Idols tend to reflect the image of the ones who make them, so idolatry is typically a form of self-worship, akin to the self-centric life I mention above. In I Corinthians, Paul embraces the term “fool,” particularly as it contrasts with what he calls “the wisdom of the world.” I think the lynchpin here is the message of the cross, which is “foolishness” to a world devoted to retributive justice. To imagine that, in Christ, God conquers sin by subjecting to death rather than through violence was a ridiculous notion in the 1stcentury. So, Paul embraces the ridiculous with a promise that the “foolishness of the cross” would ultimately overcome the “wisdom” of the world.
It brings to mind the lyrics of a song I remember from the 1980’s: “If I’m a fool for Jesus, whose fool are you?”
Mark of St. Mark a.k.a. Foolius Maximus
No comments:
Post a Comment