I do find it interesting that Ehrett mentions "Desperation" and still thinks that "The Green Mile" contains the most sobering views of God. I wonder if he just picked random titles and hadn't read "Desperation", because that novel is full of Biblical references throughout. Even more explicit than "The Green Mile" with the J.C. reference.
Just for some quick examples, one of the characters (Johnny) has to explain to the bad guy what "pneuma, sarx, and soma" are, and says, "Sarx is not the body; Soma is the body. Sarx is the flesh of the body. The body is made of flesh--as the Word was reputedly made flesh by the birth of Jesus Christ--but the body is more than the flesh that makes it."
Johnny wasn't even the most obvious reference. That fell to David, the young boy. At one point he prays to God and hears a response. He asks, "Who are you?" and the response is: "Who I am, the voice said, and then fell silent, as if that actually explained something" (which is a fairly obvious reference to I AM THAT I AM").
Beyond that, David also remembers Daniel 6:16 to give himself strength. He ends up leading the group of survivors against the bad guy, and one of the characters even mutters, "And a little child shall lead them." They later ate a small box of Ritz Crackers that didn't reduce in the amount of food, referencing Jesus's miracle, and there's a reference to Joseph's ability to interpret dreams. This prompts one of the characters to say they only knew about John 3:16, and "I didn't know anything about Jacob and Esau or Joseph's coat of many colors or Potiphar's wife..." Finally King ends "Desperation" with a reference to 1 John 4:8, explicitly stating "God is love" while having another character sacrifice himself so everyone else could be set free.
Now by no means do I think this shows King is in any way theologically accurate, nor that he's using the metaphors "correctly." My point is only that "Desperation" has far more obvious links to the Bible than "The Green Mile" does, if you want to pick one of his novels to look into his theology.
I do find it interesting that Ehrett mentions "Desperation" and still thinks that "The Green Mile" contains the most sobering views of God. I wonder if he just picked random titles and hadn't read "Desperation", because that novel is full of Biblical references throughout. Even more explicit than "The Green Mile" with the J.C. reference.
ReplyDeleteJust for some quick examples, one of the characters (Johnny) has to explain to the bad guy what "pneuma, sarx, and soma" are, and says, "Sarx is not the body; Soma is the body. Sarx is the flesh of the body. The body is made of flesh--as the Word was reputedly made flesh by the birth of Jesus Christ--but the body is more than the flesh that makes it."
Johnny wasn't even the most obvious reference. That fell to David, the young boy. At one point he prays to God and hears a response. He asks, "Who are you?" and the response is: "Who I am, the voice said, and then fell silent, as if that actually explained something" (which is a fairly obvious reference to I AM THAT I AM").
Beyond that, David also remembers Daniel 6:16 to give himself strength. He ends up leading the group of survivors against the bad guy, and one of the characters even mutters, "And a little child shall lead them." They later ate a small box of Ritz Crackers that didn't reduce in the amount of food, referencing Jesus's miracle, and there's a reference to Joseph's ability to interpret dreams. This prompts one of the characters to say they only knew about John 3:16, and "I didn't know anything about Jacob and Esau or Joseph's coat of many colors or Potiphar's wife..." Finally King ends "Desperation" with a reference to 1 John 4:8, explicitly stating "God is love" while having another character sacrifice himself so everyone else could be set free.
Now by no means do I think this shows King is in any way theologically accurate, nor that he's using the metaphors "correctly." My point is only that "Desperation" has far more obvious links to the Bible than "The Green Mile" does, if you want to pick one of his novels to look into his theology.
Great. Now I'm going to have to read Desperation. ;)
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