First Impressions

First impressions are often lasting ones. Have you ever been embarrassed because you had a certain perception of a person only to find out that he/she is quite the opposite? Remember the gymnastics your mind had to go through because you ‘labelled’ a person to be so and so, and then need to make mental corrections – change your mind on that person. It can sometimes be extremely difficult to make those changes – in some cases nearly impossible. So it is not only facing up to wrong impressions that is hard to deal with but also changing those perceptions.

A parishioner of a church I’ve served many years ago did not like me at all. The problem was exaggerated by me trying to reach out to her. The more I reached out to her the more she would avoid me. Years later, I found out that I reminded her of someone (whom I never met and had no connection with) that did her wrong many years before. Because she found it impossible to break the mental connection between me and the other person, we could never build a relationship.

The image you form of a character, especially in the beginning of a narrative, plays an important role in how you experience a character and in the end, the way you read and experience the narrative. As in real life, the perception you form about a character often happens on a subconscious level. It is thus important from time to time, to stand back a bit and ask whether the image I have of a character in my mind is congruent with the one the narrator wishes to create.

That might not be that important when one reads fiction, but dealing with the character God, is a different kettle of fish. Subconsciously we all carry an image of God in our minds that was created through all sorts of inputs. How we read the Bible and how we relate to God and others will be impacted by our view / image of him. It is thus important to ask on a conscious level whether the image one has of God is the same the narrator of the biblical narrative wished to portray. If one does not do that and make the necessary changes, one might end up worshiping an idol (See also "What Kind of God?" 3 and "What kind of God? 4").

It might be more important to understand how narrators created / form characters than one think.

The Narrator's Toolbox: Characterisation (1)

I’ve noticed that it is nearly two years since I’ve Blogged. Should say, live has been quite busy in the meantime and still is, but I did not stop thinking about “God as a character in a story.” 

Up to now, I’ve shared a lot of theory on a narratological approach to God and the Bible (the narrative parts that is). I think there is still a lot to say about the theory – seems it never stops – but I would like to bring that to a close and soon start to say what I actually intended this blog to be about. That is, “God as a character in a story” and more specifically, how he is portrayed as a character by the narrator.

One question to ask is, “How do we learn to know characters in a story?” (See this Blog) Because, if you wish to ask, how God (or any character for that matter) is portrayed, the purpose of the question would be to come to know the character better. We learn to know characters in stories very much the same way than characters (people) in real life. In real life, one learn to know others by the way he/she acts, how they look, what they say (and how they say it), what others think and say about them etc.

Narrators use similar means to portray characters. He/she may give a direct description of a person. For example, in Genesis 2:25 the narrator tells us that the man and the woman were naked. Direct descriptions are quite rare in the Bible, so whenever you get to one, you need to take note as it will probably play an important role in the rest of the story (look how the couple cover themselves up and God asks them who told them that they are naked. At the end of Genesis 3 God covers them properly).

Another way is to ‘look’ how one character responds to another. That way you may learn something about both characters. When God created the woman in Genesis 2:21-22, how did the man respond? What does it say about the man and what does it say about the Creator of the woman?

Yet another way is to listen what characters say and how they say it (or not say). When God says that it is not good for the man to be alone, what does it say about God and what does it say about the man? Why did God, on day six of the creation account, state that everything was ‘very good,’ and now, for the first time in the Bible, something is not good? How does God respond when he identifies a lack in his work of creation?

One ‘tool’ that the narrator has, that we, mere ‘mortals,’ do not have, is the ability to be everywhere, and to know everything – even where God is and what he thinks. Thus, narrators are in some ways ‘like God’ – omniscient and omnipresent. Just think of it, the narrator in Genesis was there “at the beginning” to tell us how God created everything. In Genesis 6:7 the narrator even knew what was going on in God’s mind and that God “regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.” ¹ In the book of Job (Job 1:6-12), the narrator is in God’s council room (strangely enough, Satan is also there) listening in on God and Satan’s discussion.

Thus, if one wants to know the God of the Bible a bit better, one might have to look through the eyes and hear through the ears of the narrator of God’s story – we do not have anything else to go by anyway if we believe the Bible to be God’s Word.

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¹ Literally “he was grieved to his heart.”