1/9/2024 0 Comments Wicked sick meaning![]() ![]() It assumes that the evil spirit and the mental illness are to be identified it simply adjusts which is “real” and which the interpretation. Yet, ironically, this approach only reinforces the same basic equation. Mental illness is a sign of divine disfavor: it carries with it a value judgment of the individual affected.Ī tendency among modern scholars has been to reverse the equation, as it were: to declare that the “evil spirit” is the theological way the ancient biblical authors made sense of the behavioral changes that accompanied Saul’s mental illness. Moreover, it is not random, but has motive attached: it happens to one for a reason. It is to assume that mental illness is not “natural,” but derives from an external source: it has an identifiable cause. To call this mental illness-or madness-is to make a set of implicit claims. But when we attempt to render ancient ideas into a modern idiom, we risk unconsciously redefining both.Īn evil spirit from the Lord tormented Saul. ![]() Nor would we expect it to: mental illness is a modern category, not an ancient one. The Bible does not say that Saul has mental illness. We should be wary of taking at face value the biblical depiction of a physically or mentally impaired character, lest we fall into the trap of equating impairment with moral judgment. This verse will be familiar to many as the introduction of the biblical account of Saul’s decline and David’s rise to the kingship-what is often referred to as the “madness of King Saul.” The ease with which readers and interpreters of the Bible translate the “evil spirit” into “madness” reflects, and underwrites, a whole set of assumptions about mental impairment. “Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” (1 Sam 16:14). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |