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B.
DYBWAD BROCHMANN THE ART OF READING
THE BIBLE Chapter
15 How “the artist” Georg Brandes banalizes The
Bible Earlier
in this book we have tried to show the difference between an academic and an
artistic way to read The Bible. We shall now demonstrate 2 examples of
incorrectly reading The Bible, so our readers can compare the two. There are
examples where also “the artist” has lost the ability to comprehend,
especially if the artists have academic education. We see a frightening
example of this in “The Legend of
Jesus” by Georg Brandes. The other example we will look at is how a pious
and believing, seriously persistent seeker of truth, an educated academic
with an artistic aptitude, understands The Bible. Both examples show us the insufficiency that is present when
the Light is lacking. In order to more easily compare them, we have taken
the example of the temptation of Jesus and
the view that both the artist and the pastor have on “the tempter”. The
Danish author and “artist”, Georg Brandes, received a lot of unearned
attention with his book, The Legend
of Jesus. I’m naming Brandes on purpose, because in his time he was
seen as a “great artist”, and because as such he demonstrated a drastic
example of how also artists can be unbelievably banal and exceedingly removed
from the immediate contact with the inside of life, which is the spirit of
life. It is sad and characteristic of the times that a man like Georg Brandes
could captivate the youth of his time, and play a large and meaningful role
in the development of the life of the spirit in northern Europe. This also
shows how the men of the Norwegian Lutheran Church were so uninspired and
therefore “unarmed”, so in spite of
energetic attempts, they were unable to put Georg Brandes in his correct
place. (The
numbers I am presenting refer to my comments). Brandes
writes, among other things about the tempter and the temptation, the
following on pages 53 – 54 in The
Legend of Jesus: “And now Jesus is lead out into the desert by the
spirit to be tempted by the devil, a being who is introduced without being
presented to our readers. 1. He
seems to come from India, where he has tempted Buddha, but he appears in the
story as if the reader knows who he is, which is a mistake by the evangelist.
2. Everything that you read is what Luke knows about him, which is what Jesus
says (Luke 10: 18): “I beheld Satan as a lightning fall from heaven”, “but it
did not become light”. 3. There is
no doubt that he has been an uncommonly dumb devil. The assumption is that
who he has facing him is the almighty Son. 4. He wants to tempt Him with fairy tales, the most childish kind
of attraction. 5. He is so dumb that he doesn’t even think that he will be
refused. 6. It’s important to see that the Devil first presents himself after
Jesus has fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, so He is very hungry. The number
40 and the words desert and fasting definitely belong together in the ancient
time of the Israelites. Moses was 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai, and
neither ate bread or drank water during that time. (Exodus 24: 18 and 34:28).
Elijah walked 40 days and 40 nights, fasting the whole time, to Horeb, the
Mountain of God. (1 Kings 19:8). 7. After Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40
nights, the devil left Him, and the angels came and served Him. He could
certainly have earned that after such a big difficulty. It doesn’t seem credible that there should be anything historic in
these situations. (The italics were added by BDB). Brandes
is unconsciously talking about himself. Isn’t he the “dumb devil” he’s
talking about? We will look a little closer at his way of reading The Bible. 1. The
evangelist should have first “presented” the devil for his readers, so he
didn’t suddenly come like lightening from heaven. In that case, you would
have to think of the devil as an exclusive size, which could for example be
imported from India. The truth is that “the devil” presents himself inside of our own nature. He comes “by himself”.
He comes like a lightening impulse, and slams like lightening into our
thoughts. The important thing is that we know
ourselves well enough to understand what really is happening, when the
spirit of God and the spirit of Satan “present themselves” inside of us. This is something that every living
and true writer really knows from his own life, and that Georg Brandes should have known about, if he had
been the great spirit that he and his period of time think that he is. Since
Satan doesn’t know or understand the breathe of eternal life in us, Satan
first “has to be presented” for us, so he can see his own picture. 2. Luke
correctly assumes that he is writing for beings who are created with spirit
in themselves, and who know the devil well enough that he doesn’t need to
first emigrate from India or “to be imagined” for the reader. We clearly see
here that it is Brandes who “makes a mistake” and “misses the mark”, and not
the evangelist who knows what and whom he is writing about. 3.
“Everything that you read is what Luke knows about the devil, which is what
Jesus says in 10 – 18”, says Brandes in his foolishness. However, we find
quite a bit in the words of Jesus, in Luke 10:18. First it tells about the 7
witnesses that Jesus had sent out to testify, who “came back with joy” and
said: “Lord, even the evil spirits are obedient to your name”. (Luke 10:17).
Then Jesus said to them: “I saw Satan fall down from heaven like lightening”.
Here we see the Savior tell the whole connection with Satan in 9 simple
words. It is the incorrect, lightening fast impulses that we humans sometimes
experience that Jesus “saw”; and He sees correctly, therefore His testimony
is true. I have often experienced the same thing in my life. I have often
seen Satan go around in meetings in rubber soles, and I have heard him speak
at funerals, and I have seen him parade in the middle of the street, like in
a “funeral procession” in the bishop-like silk dress. I have also seen the
devil come forward like Job relates in the Book of Job, the first chapter: “walking around between the people”. (Goethe, the very great poetic genius,
has written in his drama “Faust”, which is built on themes from the Book of
Job. He documents that he understands the existence of “the devil”, the way
he came to be, and how he works, in a fairly different way from Brandes, who
did the devil the service of making people believe that he didn’t exist). Yes, I
have also met Satan in the parliament and in the daily press. Once I met
Satan, while I was walking on a slippery street, named Karl Johan, in the
middle of downtown Oslo, (Compare with my book, “The Papers the Devil Left
Behind”, 1934) and I tricked him into giving me his secret folders. This was
an important experience in my life, because then I understood why people hated the Jews. I also understood how
the devil works when he always hides himself and then points out some
“prugelknabe” (a German word for “guinea pig”) whenever Satan has been
successful in seducing large and small nations, whole civilized countries,
and worlds of culture. There have been “artists” and “seers” before my time
who have seen “the devil” as a spiritual phenomenon. Look at the Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris, where an ingenious artist made a stone sculpture of the
devil. There are plenty of classical devil portraits both there and in all
old good art. It is only our banal world that doesn’t acknowledge “the devil”
as a real spiritual power. ------------------Picture
of The Devil------------------ The devil
is sitting up there in the church tower, just the way I know him, looking
down in a scornful and mocking way at the uninhibited people, the Frenchmen. Just
look at the way he is disdainful toward people, slandering and mocking them. You
can believe that this “devil” is speaking in all the “churches” in today’s
world. He is the father to the “Gestapo” both in Berlin and Moscow. Of
course, Georg Brandes doesn’t know him, because he was among those who
derailed the thinking in northern Europe. -----------------------Picture
of Brandes----------------------- Brandes
is only testifying about himself
and not about the Savior of the world, Who is “only a legend” – yes, of
course. If the Savior had been a living reality for Brandes, he also would
have experienced that the devil had presented himself to him in the capital
of Denmark. The opposite is also true – If Brandes had experienced the devil,
as being born Danish, then Brandes
wouldn’t have made a spectacle about discovering him in India. In that case,
Brandes would have, just as we did, looked around for a savior who could have
released mankind from its greatest enemy – our mental peril. What
Jesus says in Luke 10:18 about the devil also agrees with Paul’s way of
thinking, when he says in 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”. (Copied
from the Bible.com Website). Listen to
this Hitler and Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
and Mussolini. Listen to this. It is the spiritual army of the lies of
life in the heavens that is our common enemy. It isn’t blood, races, nations, classes and gender that we’re
struggling against. It doesn’t matter to me if Brandes was a person, and
maybe just as good a person as many others from Copenhagen, or if the books
about Brandes are only a poor and uninspired “legend”. His books and speeches
exist as an incorrect teaching about The Bible, about the Savior, and about
the living conditions, chances and risks for people. The most important thing
is the spiritual power as a living
reality, because our life has a destiny and we must pay if we go astray. The people whom Satan strikes “like
lightening” from heaven, are much less important for us, than the actual quality of the spirit. 4. Yes,
unfortunately, when Satan comes down from heaven like lightening, it also illumines, like every other lightening
bolt or light. But what kind of light is it? What kind of inspiration? What
quality of light? Satan’s “light” and “illumination” has the same effect that
the artificial lamplight has on
night birds and flies. They buzz around helplessly
because they can’t get oriented to the
artificial light. This is exactly how the delusion of knowledge and
disorientation has worked in the history of the world. However,
sunlight doesn’t work this way, either with flies or night birds. Flies sit
calmly on the sunny wall and “absorb” the sun, just like trees, flowers, and
people. Night birds don’t swarm around in the light, because they don’t
tolerate it. They go and hide until it gets dark. There’s a
lot to learn from the night birds, and from the owls. They flee from the sun,
because they can’t tolerate the sun. They
are not capable of going past their own limitations. (See further
explanation about this in the next chapter). The light
and illumination from Satan seems disturbing and destructive for humans
because it is “artificial”. Just as sunshine is necessary for black soil, and
all the trees and flowers, true illumination and orientation to life are
necessary for man and woman, according to Grundtvig, whose comprehension of
life was about the opposite of Brandes’. Therefore Grundtvig will always live
in the Danish spiritual life, and Brandes, at best will be a myth about a
“dumb devil”. (Grundtvig
was a Danish pastor, author, philosopher, historian, politician and hymnist. He
was one of the most meaningful people in Danish history, and is especially
remembered for the development of Danish identity in the 1800's. In Norway he
is most known for writing hymns). -------------------Gornitzka,
His Majesty, the Devil--------------------- This is
about how the devil looked, when I met him on Karl Johan’s St. in Oslo, after
the last world war. This devil is drawn by my friend Gornitzka, who delighted
himself and others by sharing how alive he also saw the devil in his
lifetime. His many scientific “problems” lay actually like fog around his
brain activity. 5. The
fact that the devil Christ talks about isn’t dumb is shown when he attacks
people on the three most dangerous and vulnerable points in the life of our
conscience. If the poet Brandes had understood the “writing” about the golden
calf, he would also have understood how “subtle and wise” the devil is when
he puts out his traps. “Awaken
your soul and pray. Get ready
to fight today. The devil
lays the traps - In danger you are wrapped, Awaken your
soul and pray”. You
common mortal, I have to ask you if you ever have realized that your uncontrolled fantasy is your unbelievably big chance and also a big risk at
the same time? Isn’t the child playing with the doll innocent, beautiful and
natural? Don’t we also like to play too? Don’t we also participate in the
child’s fantasy? Can this also be dangerous? Yes, the child can easily learn
to lie. One day maybe the little child has hurt himself on a chair or a table
in the living room, and is crying. Maybe we jump in immediately with a little lie and say: “Shame on that nasty
table that ‘hit the little boy’”. Then we comfort the child with a little
lie. The child will not gladly see his own mistake and doesn’t find any
comfort in it. The child comforts himself quickly with a little lie. Satan
already appears in the child’s room when we grown ups “are with our children”
and teach them uncontrolled and “unrestrained fantasy”. We still haven’t
learned to find the boundaries between where fantasy can be experienced
freely and where fantasies may not be tolerated. (More about this in the
section about new ethics). The time
that the director of The Bank of Norway
declared that the people needed to save, because the Norwegian crown had
become “abnormal”, the director comforted both himself and all of the
Norwegian people. The truth was that the director in The Bank of Norway had
danced with the golden calf and played a devilish game with money and the
people’s unlimited fantasy, which was known by the refined title of: official
bank rate politics. The truth was that it was our people who had become
irresponsible and “abnormal”. This was because Aaron, in the form of Gunnar Knudsen, professor and rector Bredo Morgenstierne at the university,
together with Alf Whist, had taught
the people to believe that they could get rich from losses due to the war. Yes!
That was really how it was. Unfortunately I don’t have available the appeal
from these gentlemen from 1914 – 1915 to buy stocks in the Norwegian branch of Lloyd’s of London,
which had this as the intended aim. This invitation to buy stocks with “the
state’s” and the university’s leading men at the forefront, was the signal
for the great “employment time” in Norway from 1914 – 1918. It was like
lightening from heaven that struck our people, that money could be made by
profiting from the war. Everybody knows what happened. “The crash came”. (Our
readers should note the following – The Norwegian Lutheran Church didn’t
identify “Aaron” with the opportunistic statesman during the period of war,
1914 –1918. Neither were Professor Morgenstierne
and insurance man Alf Whist
identified as “false prophets”. For one
thing, people didn’t know that The Bible had to do with human nature, see a
later chapter on this, and for the other, that the politics of The Bank of
Norway had anything to do with Christ and the Savior of the world, since
“politics” and “religion” were two completely different areas of life that
had nothing to do with each other. This lack of recognition, seeing how
things go together, is what the devil moves on every time he “changes
clothes”/allows the devil to function the way he does). “The
papers fell”. “The Norwegian krone became abnormal”. The money had to be
“restored” (this is a word that means to stabilize). “The times went against
the people”. Now we have to save, sacrifice, etc. Lots of Norwegian farmers
and families went bankrupt and there were forced sales, as the natural
“sacrifices” so that we again could reach the “the better times”. Now we ask:
Aren’t all of these adventures the same
kind of thing as when mamma hits “the nasty table” that should take the
blame for the little boy not being thoughtful and careful? The Norwegian
crown was just as normal and innocent as the table. However, the people and
its leaders went into an old classic trap of the people or people’s snare, which Satan himself
could have put up; or will you demand that a common mortal should believe
that those at the head of The Bank of Norway are irresponsible spiritual
children? Do you want to demand that the people would recognize Aaron in the
form of old, simple, well-meaning Gunnar
Knudsen? Do you want to think that the Norwegian business community and
ship owners should think that a university rector and professor in social economy
maybe could be very dangerous authors of fairy tales and demagogue? This
would be especially difficult to believe after he had called himself an
“empirical scientist”, i.e. an incorruptible gentleman who only bases things
on the science of experience. Alf Whist was also well suited in this
connection. Around that time many people in Norway began to play English whist (bridge), and Mr. Culbertson “conquered” Norway in
the same dangerous way that Hitler
did. He conquered the Norwegian people’s “free time” and guided the people’s
attention and interest in a negative direction. English bridge and English
discount politics are an expression for one and the same futile play with the
fantasies of the people. Both things are entertainment for daytime thieves and
daytime loafers. Everybody in Norway swallowed the bait, so there wasn’t any
“dumb devil” who arranged for this right in the middle of the day in the 20th
century. There was nary a scream or “warning” from “the Norwegian Church”
(that had the key to wisdom and knowledge), according to The Bible. As far as
I was concerned, I tried to cry out all over the country – Be careful! The
devil is loose! But there weren’t many who believed me. What I presented was
so challenging and impertinent, so impudent and unpalatable that when a
serious scientist wanted to write about my teachings in Aftenposten (a
well-known national newspaper), he received the following answer: “As you
know, we are very appreciative of your work in Aftenposten (The Evening
Post), and we ask you to not be insulted because we are returning your
article, but, for the moment, we consider Dybwad
Brochmann to be one of the most dangerous
men for our society”. The person mentioned above was the scientist and
traveler to the South Pole, Carsten
Borchgrevink. He shared this with me and then added: “You should be proud
of this. It shows that they have a great deal of respect for you”. It wasn’t
like I wanted respect for my person. I only wanted to warn the people and
their science, business community, and the banking system that they were all
heading in the wrong direction, and that the devil, who is the falsehood of
life, seduced our little country. I have mentioned this here to illustrate
how stupid it is to say that the tempter is dumb, when he appeals to the
fantasy of human nature and asks us if it is really true that He is the Son
of the Almighty and we are His children. If this is true, then we don’t need
to have financial difficulties or be troubled about your daily bread. You can
just go ahead and pretend that there is life in stone, and other symbols of
wood or paper, then the money will reproduce
by itself, and you can live sorrow free all the days of your life, and play
bridge. The three temptations of Christ are made in such a sophisticated way that it is only the Savior, with His 100% alert
consciousness, who can master them. Therefore Brandes doesn’t have any
idea what he’s writing about. It is with the temptations of Jesus that we can
see so clearly that it is only with omniscience
and omnipotence that we are able to control the phenomena that are stuck so
deep and demand such an intense view to be able to experience and
control. If Brandes would have thought of those kinds of temptations, that he
would decide were intelligent enough to really be serious temptations for the
all powerful and the all knowing, he probably would have produced girls,
wine, and song - just the type of thing the banal pastor often thinks is the
greatest and most dangerous temptation for the Son of Man. If the story about
Jesus and his temptations had been an adventure and a legend, then it would
have been impossible to invent such deep going themes, such as if the most dangerous temptations, and those
temptations that had the most effect on our future, consisted of people having a creative fantasy and not
knowing what a chance and risk that is. The world
has a lot of myths and legends. We have lots of fables and adventures of all
kinds, and many of these often pierce quite deeply. For example, H. C. Andersen gives very good
descriptions of people in his adventures; and our Norwegian classics have
achieved great things. Never before, has any person seen into the totality of
the dangers and possibilities for human life, as the Savior, when He tells
about the devil and the temptations. If our
statesmen and professors go on a spree with girls, wine and song, we can
forgive them. However, when they dream and pretend there is life in “the
stones”, so that “money has power”, so that loss of men and ships give an
“enormous profit”, then we say in the name of Jesus: “Get away Satan, because
people don’t live by bread alone, but of every word that comes out of the
mouth of God”. It is the Word that is
the most important food because we are spiritual beings. That is why I am
taking action with today’s representatives. I have received the authority
that the truth of Light gives me. I
am not testifying about myself, but I am talking about we human beings in
general and the spiritual “swine food” that is being served up today. I am teaching
my readers to read The Bible with the same Light of mental research and
inspiration with which I also read and learn, and with which The Bible is
written. 6. The
tempter will not tempt the Master with adventures; this has been a
misunderstanding. But he will tempt the Son of Man in such a way that he
convinces Him to have people let their fantasies go free and unrestrained, in
such a way that Aaron couldn’t do. We can understand that this temptation was
a big and important thing for Jesus Christ internally, because we see how He had to limit Himself and not speak
freely or plainly on everything – for the moment. (John 16:25). Christ
doesn’t speak freely about “the stones that give bread” in the way that we
have earlier spoken in this book. For the moment the Savior uses parables so
that we can see, but not see clearly, and so that we can hear, but not hear
so that we can understand completely. (Matthew 13:17). When He speaks to us
in comparisons, He appeals to our fantasy or our ability to see pictures and
“to imagine” this or that. He sees the “power” and role of capitalism, and He
sees the “picture” of the emperor on the taxed coin and points clearly to it (?) without speaking freely. He doesn’t give us “buckets of truth”,
as an editor accused me of doing, and in His sacrament at the alter He gives in for our weakness for
blood. There are certainly enough psychologists who would say: “And the Savior fell into temptation”. But He didn’t fall. He knew our slow
development, and our hard hearts, and gave us plenty of time, while at the
same time He showed us the holy spirit of truth that should guide us to understand everything that
He had told us. In John 16:13, He gives us the whole truth, as much as He was able to for our time. 7.
Brandes again accuses the devil for being dumb, yes, even so dumb that he
didn’t even foresee that Christ could see through him. Here again Brandes
clearly writes about things he doesn’t understand. He writes in such a dumb
way that he doesn’t even foresee that others could see through his lack of
knowledge. What I am saying is that Brandes
is writing about himself, while he says he is writing about the devil. 8. There
are so many others who write about what the 40 days and 40 nights symbolize,
that I will omit it here. I don’t know if maybe the Savior’s age was 40
years, and if the 40 days in the desert aren’t a symbol for 40 years of
living in the spiritual desert of this world? What I do know is that Jesus,
both in word and deed, continually ties Himself and all of His work to the
old Jewish traditions and prophecies. Continuously we hear that this or that
happens or is challenged, “because the
scriptures should be fulfilled”. When the Savior so often refers to the
scriptures having to be fulfilled or are fulfilled, that is because people
should orient themselves correctly, and recognize their own order of life and
legality in the visions and prophecies of the prophets. It is on this same
basis that Paul later explains the happenings on Golgotha for King Agrippa:
“Nothing else has happened except what the prophets said would happen”. (Acts
26:22). (See other chapters about this). Brandes
also refers to Elijah who went out into the desert. (1 Kings 19). It was only
a “one day’s journey” to the desert. But Brandes doesn’t try to read The
Bible thoughtfully here either. An angel wakes him up and gives him a “cake”
baked on warm stones. Was it the desert sun or was it the people’s fanatic
poetry work that had warmed up the stones and baked the cake? Brandes doesn’t
have a meaning on that. We won’t discuss that further now either, but will
consider it later. What is most important in this connection is that Christ
complements and fulfills the whole Jewish tradition and longing for a
Messiah. This is why, in John 5:39, He says to the learned men of His time:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they
are they which testify of me”. (Copied from the Bible.com Website). Why are
you looking in the scriptures, when you don’t understand that there is the truth about eternal life?
It is on Me and My teachings for life that these scriptures witness and
report, says the Savior. Brandes doesn’t think like this, because he doesn’t
understand his own nature. If he did, he would have recognized his own
internal life in The Bible. The epitome of thoughtlessness and lack of
inspiration in his book is in the following: “It doesn’t seem believable that
these destinies should be historical”. (This
doesn’t coincide with what Brandes says on page 65 in his book: “The morality
that the evangelists let Jesus proclaim nowadays has only historical
interest”). I wonder
if Brandes would have said the same thing when he read Henrik Ibsen’s dramas
and works of poetry? Would he mean that “Brand”, “Nora”, “Peer Gynt” and “The
Pretenders” don’t have destinies that have to do with the history of the
Norwegian people? And wouldn't Ibsen's “Enemy of the people” tell us the
truth about ourselves? If we sat
down and were prepared to read all of the hundred thousands of books in the
libraries, that say they are objective historical
renditions about factual events and destinies of the people, we could never
find one single book that describes, illumines, and explains human nature
and, the history and destinies of the people, so incorruptibly real and true,
as The Bible’s very inspired works of poetry and stories, character
descriptions, symbolical events, actions and destinies of life. Every
fool who doubts this should just sit down and study the many different
historical authors, and then be convinced. Why else should people always write about their own history over and
over again? When an
event, a revolution, or a war has happened, and it is exactly written down by
a number of historians, shouldn’t that be enough? The events and the various destinies had already happened and
were carefully described, and not much more could be done with that. But what
do we see? For every new generation,
the history books need to be rewritten. Just look at H. G. Wells’ history of the world or at Friedell’s history of culture. Weren’t
both of these books published in thousands of copies before? This just shows
that people grow and are continually widening their horizons and
consciousness. We, and our life, are continually made new with a new Light
over us. Even God “develops” and “changes tastes”, “ideals”, “morals”, and
“wishes” according to how we grow. Earlier, no one could have written a
history of the world like Wells or a history of culture like Friedell. All of
the occurrences, happenings and destinies come continuously in new light. It
is not only our future that “changes”, but also our “past” changes in
relation to our own phase of development. How often haven’t I heard my
friends say: “Think if Wells and Friedell had been on the same level with
psychology or mass psychology when they wrote their great works”? There will
be enough people who can succeed both Wells and Friedell. Nothing has replaced The Bible yet. In spite of its advanced age, it
is the most truthful history and the most real description of the actual
reality there is. That’s why Jesus, as a speaker, poet, and writer can
triumphantly say: “If heaven and
earth come to an end, I promise that my words will never perish”. My words
will never be old, even though Wells and Friedell soon will be old fashioned. Our
readers surely realize that Georg Brandes will disappear into space in the
same way that a kitten sneezes in space, but The Legend of Jesus
becomes reality’s reality. When “the cloud” on the Mountain of
Transfiguration disappeared, Jesus was
there alone, even the prophets had left. Everything we see, describe and
explain is as nothing compared to the Savior, Who knew everything ahead of
time and didn’t need to ask anyone or learn from anyone, because He knew what was inside of us. Maybe we should
repeat the unbelievably beautiful words from John when he finished his
evangelism: “Jesus has also done much more. Should every thing be written,
each thing by itself, then the whole world wouldn’t be big enough to hold all
of the books that would need to be written”. This is an evangelist who
understands what and whom he is writing about. He is talking about words that
can move every mountain of the falsehoods of life and the deceptions that
exist in all the libraries in the world. Before we
leave our guide in Bible reading, Georg Brandes, we will quote 3 more lines
(on the top of page 60 in his book): “The whole passion history is so
permeated with mythology that separating out any historical basis seems
impossible”. We are quoting these lines from Brandes as typical of his way of
thinking, in order that we can say something about what the “historical
basis” really means. For the
moment, let us think that we will describe a person’s life and give the most
possible complete picture of this person’s inner life, from the childhood
years to adult life. Is it possible to do such a thing without including
everything we know about the individual’s youth? For example, if the
individual had written poetry and fairy tale books in his youth and in
letters to relatives and friends talked all about his thoughts, youthful
dreams, longings, etc., it would have been very helpful to include as much as
possible of this in order to get a sense of the type and the personality we have in front of us. This is how
we get the correct psychological picture of a person, otherwise a few
photographs from various ages would have been enough, although from the
photographs we don’t get enough historical
basis. When we can look into the person’s letters and collections of
poems, we can see into their spiritual and mental life, and start to find the
basis for that person’s experiences, fortunes, actions, etc. Shouldn’t Georg
Brandes be the first one to admit this? If a historical author was going to
write about the Norwegian people’s history, fortunes, experiences, and way of
living their lives, then this author preferably needs to know the character
of the Norwegian people, their peculiarities and national traits, if his
presentation of the “historical basis” would be meaningful and could be
properly understood. He should preferably study “Per Gynt”, “Brand”, “The
Pretenders”, “An Enemy of the People”, “A Doll’s House”, etc. in order to
correctly understand the inner workings of the Norwegian mind. Only when all
of these “myths”, “dramas”, “legends”, and “fairytales” are taken into
consideration, can the person writing about Norwegian history be trusted. Only
then will his “History of Norway” be interesting and understandable, and only
then can the reader understand the Norwegian people’s distinctive history. So,
now let’s use this same correct basis and view concerning The Bible, and use
The Bible to reach a proper understanding of everything that makes up all of mankind’s distinctive natural history. How
will we understand the total picture, if we don’t include mythology,
theology, the history of religion, and the many different pictures of life
that we have made during the passage of time? I really don’t know what
Georg Brandes was thinking. How does he think he can understand the history of the passion of Jesus Christ, without
also including the facts concerning Jewish tradition and survival, on which the Savior built all of His
behavior, all of His practical life, guidance of life, and all of His work of
salvation? The Jewish prophecies were available during the time of
Christ. The Jews’ past, their Pentateuch, and their temple service were all available as a
starting point. The Jewish picture of God, their picture of life, morality,
understanding of people and understanding of the devil were all available. All of this is what made up “the
substantial house” where the Savior went in. If Christ had built outside of Jewish mythology and theology,
and not taken his beginning in “the Law and the prophets”, so all of His
behavior would have “hung in the air” without roots in the historical reality
and given facts. Since Christ saw the
total deliverance of the Jews as the best imagery in the world, regarding
understanding the human distinction, so He chose this imagery, this
Jewish mythology, as a “theme” or as a beginning for all of His behavior from
beginning to end. Since the Jewish picture of society was relatively speaking
the best in the world at that time, and because the Jewish teaching about the
divine order of life, its legalities and its system, were the closest there was to reality, therefore Christ couldn’t
find a better area of working than the Jewish social life and picture of life
when He wanted to demonstrate for the whole world the truth, the way, and the
life. This is why His entire historical appearance, including the story on
Golgotha, was a “fulfillment”, “became a part of” the Jewish tradition
regarding “the Law and the prophets”. If Christ now, 2000 years later, could
have found anything better, I cannot say, but it is possible. At the time of Christ, the Jews’ spiritual
life was far ahead of that of other peoples’. They combined the material
reality with the spiritual reality in a much more correct and appropriate
way than all of the other people we have read about. This is why the passion
history of Jesus is a story about how
human nature reacts to the truth about itself. All of
human nature, with all of its different types, had a meeting on Golgotha. Christ called on all of them and gave each
of them a chance to take their place, where they will, according to their
mentality. He doesn’t add anything or remove anything, not even with
Judas, which we understand took a lot of self-restraint. (John 13:21). He
lets the main representatives of his enemies, theology (with Caiaphas and the
councilmen), the state heathenism (with Pilate and his wife), gnosticism
(with Herod and his crew), place themselves on humanity ’s huge theater stage
of world history so that all the people and all the generations for all times
shall see them and hear them and recognize them, as long as they have
something to “see”, “hear”, and “recognize” with. He also lets ordinary
people, the private types and personalities, come along and play their roles,
as well as: the zealous, convinced and yet not trustworthy Peter, the
loveable and intelligent John, the world-wise and “sensible” Judas, the
doubting Thomas, the impulsive and simple female believer, the curious and
seeking Zacchaeus, the raw and brutal “state” policemen, the enthusiastic
mass of people who are as easy to change as the shifting sand, etc. There is
an unending list. All of the light and dark sides of human nature, all possible
representatives have a chance to demonstrate their possibilities and
probabilities. Christ hasn’t written
their roles or given them a “textbook”, like some theater directors do at
our theaters, so the actors can study their roles, lines, and actions. It is the dynamic spiritual powers that
have taken over the prompter’s box, where they whisper to all the performers,
so that all subsequent families can find themselves and become wise. And now
to turn back to Ibsen’s famous dramas – what is the reason with these dramas
if it isn’t that we Norwegian men and women shall identify and find again our
own distinctive character and distinctive mental personality, every time
Ibsen’s views and legends play at our theaters? It is the whole history of
the world, all of mankind’s distinctive personality that is demonstrated on
Golgotha, short, concise, and to the point. All the excess is removed, but no
detail is missing that would make the picture complete. It is the history of
mankind, events, happenings, and experiences that are the basis for the big
drama on Golgotha. Christ knows them in and out with 100% accuracy and lets all
of them run their course, “so that the scriptures should be shown to be
correct”, and because the new scriptures, the Evangels, could not be passed
by. If it should take 1000 years or 2000 years or more, we get to decide
ourselves, but sooner or later all human
understanding had to stop at Golgotha, and look at themselves and their
relationship to the truth about their nature and the history of their nature.
It could cost what it would, but there was no other way for “the substantial
house” to be robbed and the stolen goods to be captured and returned to the
true owner. Lord
Jesus, You were, are, and will always be the only Mental Savior of the world.
Who else can we go to in order to hear and know the truth about the eternal
human life, if we don’t come to You, since we learn and understand everything
in the story of Your passion? But what
is left of Brandes? What is left of his “historical basis” other than an
empty phrase that should trick an unknowing and thoughtless world? We
certainly understand what Brandes means. He doesn’t understand the important
role that mythology plays in reality.
He looks at mythology as being unreal, something that has nothing to do with
the history of Christ, and similarly has nothing to do with the history of
mankind. Maybe he doesn’t know that the historical Christ entered into all
the history of the world? Maybe he will accept the task of writing a history
of the world for the last 2000 years without naming everything involved with
what he calls The Legend about Jesus? Maybe Brandes will accept
writing a history of the world without mentioning Christianity and the
history of religion? We would just like to have some questions answered,
because the whole quote from Georg Brandes is meaningless, and therefore
leads into a misleading way to read The Bible. The most basic part of the histories of all people is their mythological and
religious writing. You can never write a true history of the world if you
don’t include theology and the culture of myths as the “historical basis”. It is not possible for any scientist to
describe for us the origin, creation, growth, and development of humanity, if he doesn’t look at how distinctively
humanity separates itself from the animals and from all other creations. Because
of this, our fate, our possibilities, chances, risks, our behavior and
actions, conditions for living and living with others are so much richer,
fuller, more special, and with more variety than all other created beings. The above
material should be enough to show that Georg Brandes as a reader and
interpreter of The Bible belongs to the most banal that is known. When his
book The Legend about Jesus was taken seriously by the people of his
time, this only shows how those of his time had worked themselves away from
reality, and lost sight and sense for the distinctiveness of human life. The
fact that the Church couldn’t disarm Brandes and document his foolishness, so
all the world could see it, just shows the insufficiency of the Church in the
struggle against the big falsehoods of life and banal misunderstandings. Of
course, there were many who tried to put Brandes in his place, but when they
didn’t succeed completely in knocking him out of the struggle for truth and
spiritual liberation, it was because
the Light over our true natures was missing. People “did believe” that
Brandes and science were wrong, but the degree
of certainty was missing that was needed to knock a sprouting mistaken
consciousness back down to the earth. It’s not
enough with pious will and correct faith. We are capable of very little with
our own strength. It is the Light that gives us power and ability. (Please
see Luke 13:24, John 6:44, 6:65, and 7:34). The Church is lacking the belief
in the Light, since it believes
that religious faith is enough. The story about Brandes and the youth in
northern Europe is good proof that religious faith is not sufficient. It is
the duty of the holy spirit of truth
to illuminate us in a constantly
more correct faith. |