I was at a Quaker meeting this morning, and for some reason I remembered a famous story from the Bible, which I looked up when I got home. It's at the beginning of the eleventh chapter of Genesis:
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children built. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
I believe this story is usually interpreted as about how humans tried to rival God and were punished. But this seems wrong. I don't think God would ever really worry about human beings as rivals, and I don't think God would simply punish human beings unless the punishment was really a way of making them better. I think the various languages in this story actually stand in for all the various kinds of differences that separate human beings – so not just language or nationality but race or culture, religion or political opinion, gender or sexual orientation, and so on. We are accustomed to see these differences as a problem, as a source of division, as something to be overcome. We wish that we could all just be "of one language, and of one speech." If we could just understand one another, then we could get over all our problems.
What would humans do if these differences did not exist? Apparently, build "a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven." Building the tower is a cooperative and cumulative endeavor: first they make the bricks, then burn them in a kiln, then start stacking them up, etc. The project will probably take a lot of work, but there's no theoretical limit to what it can achieve. Unencumbered by differences, humans can do all "which they have imagined to do" and "nothing will be restrained from them." I was reminded of what Descartes says in the Discourse on Method: the progress of science will allow us to "make ourselves like masters and possessors of nature." I think that this is what the city in the story represents. Is this city something we ought to hope for? Pace Descartes, I don't think so. The point of this story seems to be that our differences were deliberately brought about by God to save us from ever having to live in that city. In short, God has thought up a way of foiling the Cartesian project: he gave us disagreement and diversity.
Again, I proceed from the interpretive assumption that whatever God does for us in the story is meant to be ultimately for our good. So these differences are actually something that we ought to be thankful for. In my experience, the word "diversity" stirs up cynical reactions in a lot of quarters. But maybe we need to get to the point where we see diversity not just as a reality to be accepted, but a goal to actually be embraced and fought for. At this point, I thought about another famous Bible story, this one from the New Testament, in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles:
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
What happens at the Pentecost is really just the same thing that happens at the Tower of Babel: God makes a bunch of people who speak the same language speak different languages. As an aside, I'll say that for a Classicist this is kind of a disturbing story: if everyone today could suddenly just speak Latin and Greek without trying, we would be totally superfluous. For better or worse, we make a living from the differences that exist between people, especially differences between people today and people thousands of years ago. (Different historical epochs are a source of diversity too!)
I think that what the New Testament story adds to the Old Testament one is an assurance that diversity doesn't have to mean conflict. Properly understood, our differences are a manifestation of "the wonders of God." Often in church I hear prayers for Christian unity. I understand the sentiment, but I suppose that ultimately I think ecumenism is a very dangerous idea. (The word "ecumenism" comes from the Greek word οἰκουμένη, meaning "the inhabited world.") I think we should pray for peace and understanding, but not for unity. People who hope that one day all Christians (and maybe Jews and Muslims and atheists and everyone else too) will just overcome everything that separates us and unite in one big church for the entire inhabited world with no institutional divisions are, ironically, trying to build a Cartesian tower. To me, that's a nightmare. I hope that I'll always wake up to a world where some people feel the way I do – and lots of others don't. Not just about little things, but about the big things too.
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children built. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
I believe this story is usually interpreted as about how humans tried to rival God and were punished. But this seems wrong. I don't think God would ever really worry about human beings as rivals, and I don't think God would simply punish human beings unless the punishment was really a way of making them better. I think the various languages in this story actually stand in for all the various kinds of differences that separate human beings – so not just language or nationality but race or culture, religion or political opinion, gender or sexual orientation, and so on. We are accustomed to see these differences as a problem, as a source of division, as something to be overcome. We wish that we could all just be "of one language, and of one speech." If we could just understand one another, then we could get over all our problems.
What would humans do if these differences did not exist? Apparently, build "a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven." Building the tower is a cooperative and cumulative endeavor: first they make the bricks, then burn them in a kiln, then start stacking them up, etc. The project will probably take a lot of work, but there's no theoretical limit to what it can achieve. Unencumbered by differences, humans can do all "which they have imagined to do" and "nothing will be restrained from them." I was reminded of what Descartes says in the Discourse on Method: the progress of science will allow us to "make ourselves like masters and possessors of nature." I think that this is what the city in the story represents. Is this city something we ought to hope for? Pace Descartes, I don't think so. The point of this story seems to be that our differences were deliberately brought about by God to save us from ever having to live in that city. In short, God has thought up a way of foiling the Cartesian project: he gave us disagreement and diversity.
Again, I proceed from the interpretive assumption that whatever God does for us in the story is meant to be ultimately for our good. So these differences are actually something that we ought to be thankful for. In my experience, the word "diversity" stirs up cynical reactions in a lot of quarters. But maybe we need to get to the point where we see diversity not just as a reality to be accepted, but a goal to actually be embraced and fought for. At this point, I thought about another famous Bible story, this one from the New Testament, in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles:
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
What happens at the Pentecost is really just the same thing that happens at the Tower of Babel: God makes a bunch of people who speak the same language speak different languages. As an aside, I'll say that for a Classicist this is kind of a disturbing story: if everyone today could suddenly just speak Latin and Greek without trying, we would be totally superfluous. For better or worse, we make a living from the differences that exist between people, especially differences between people today and people thousands of years ago. (Different historical epochs are a source of diversity too!)
I think that what the New Testament story adds to the Old Testament one is an assurance that diversity doesn't have to mean conflict. Properly understood, our differences are a manifestation of "the wonders of God." Often in church I hear prayers for Christian unity. I understand the sentiment, but I suppose that ultimately I think ecumenism is a very dangerous idea. (The word "ecumenism" comes from the Greek word οἰκουμένη, meaning "the inhabited world.") I think we should pray for peace and understanding, but not for unity. People who hope that one day all Christians (and maybe Jews and Muslims and atheists and everyone else too) will just overcome everything that separates us and unite in one big church for the entire inhabited world with no institutional divisions are, ironically, trying to build a Cartesian tower. To me, that's a nightmare. I hope that I'll always wake up to a world where some people feel the way I do – and lots of others don't. Not just about little things, but about the big things too.
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