There was fairly a bit of dialogue just lately about how a lot (some) males apparently take into consideration historical Rome. Whether or not it’s the historical past of battles, the togas, the architectural feats survived by ruins unfold all through the Mediterranean basin, or the array of movies from Ben-Hur and Spartacus to Gladiator and Gladiator II, some folks appear significantly fascinated with historical Rome. However latest and forthcoming movies recommend that we would all profit from spending extra time serious about historical Greece.
The Return is a 2024 movie adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, directed by Uberto Pasolini and starring Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope (of their first on-screen reunion since The English Affected person). As well as, it was just lately introduced that Christopher Nolan’s subsequent movie will probably be an adaptation of The Odyssey, reportedly starring Matt Damon because the wayward Odysseus and Anne Hathaway because the homebound Penelope.
. . . works like The Odyssey have additionally shaped who we’re.
Although written almost 3,000 years in the past, Homer’s mythological account of Odysseus is well-known: We first encounter him in The Iliad because the king of Ithaca, who joins his fellow Greeks to wage warfare for ten years towards the Trojans for his or her seize (or seduction) of Helen. In the end, Odysseus allows their victory by means of the deception of the picket horse. Following their triumph, many of the Greeks return dwelling, however as recounted in The Odyssey, that isn’t the destiny of Odysseus and his males. He spends one other ten years making an attempt to get again to Ithaca, the place his home is beneath siege from suitors who would marry his spouse, Penelope, and kill his son, Telemachus.
I’ve spent many hours serious about Odysseus and his trials over this previous 12 months. The Odyssey was the Core Guide at Wheaton Faculty, the place I train undergraduate lessons. The thought of the Core Guide program is for the entire faculty neighborhood to learn the identical e book (along with the Bible), interact in communal reflection and studying, and take part in on-campus occasions associated to the e book.
However this raises some somewhat urgent questions: Why ought to Christians trouble studying works by non-Christians, together with issues written earlier than Christ, particularly when they’re stuffed with pagan gods, immoral heroes, and condoned violence? Why ought to we learn this epic poem, whose protagonist is usually shrewd and self-sacrificial, however can be smug, duplicitous, and vengeful? Or, to place it somewhat bluntly, shouldn’t we simply learn our Bible? Over time, I’ve discovered by means of discussions in each the classroom and the church that Christians generally need to learn these sorts of books, however they’re unsure in the event that they ought to learn them and, in the event that they do, how these works may relate to their religion.
Know Thyself
Studying books like The Odyssey (or The Iliad or Virgil’s Aeneid) may appear counterintuitive for followers of Christ, however pre-Christian works can truly assist us to “know thyself,” as the traditional Greek proverb instructs us. The Odyssey is among the oldest surviving works of literature, and it has formed—and continues to form—our collective creativeness and cultural id.
All through Homer’s poem, Odysseus and his males should always navigate risks which can be by now acquainted to readers: the cave of the Cyclops, Poseidon’s rage, and the dual perils of Scylla and Charybdis. Much more acquainted to us, although, are their needs for fulfillment, safety, and love. Once we first meet Odysseus, he’s trapped on the luxurious island of the goddess Calypso. Although dwelling in an obvious paradise, he longs for dwelling: “Odysseus . . . was sitting by the shore as typical, sobbing in grief and ache; his coronary heart was breaking. In tears he stared throughout the fruitless sea.” (5.81-84)
After all, as Christians, our worldview is formed primarily by God’s Phrase, which is the primary and remaining authority for all issues of Christian religion and observe (i.e., our orthodoxy and our orthopraxy) and which continues to form our tradition in methods seen and unseen. But works like The Odyssey have additionally shaped who we’re. Studying these works helps us to grasp our collective historical past and the broader cultural waters during which we swim. Not studying them solely results in collective amnesia.
A Common Situation
In Emily Wilson’s glorious translation of The Odyssey, Odysseus is commonly known as “long-suffering” (3.84) for what he endures by the hands of others. For instance, when he’s lastly allowed to go away Calypso’s island on a raft, he’s confronted by a storm conjured by Poseidon: “Extra ache? How will it finish? I’m afraid the goddess spoke the reality: that I’ll have a sea of sufferings earlier than I attain my homeland” (5.299-302). It’s not with out motive that his journey is described as an “odyssey of ache” (5.340).
However it’s also the case that Odysseus and his males are topic to the results of their very own flaws and failures. For instance, they might escape once they discover themselves trapped within the cave of Polyphemus, the Cyclops, however Odysseus insists on staying to demand presents from him, which results in the deaths of a number of of his males (9-227-29). Later, once they have almost returned to Ithaca, the lads’s curiosity causes them to open a bag that is stuffed with wind, which blows them again out to sea (10.47-49). Most tragically, on the island of Helius, the Solar God, the lads eat the forbidden cattle whereas Odysseus sleeps (12.358). Like Moses descending from the mountain and listening to the sound of the Israelites worshiping the golden calf (Ex. 32:17-19), Odysseus smells the burning of meat: “My males did dreadful issues whereas I used to be gone” (12.371-72). In response, Zeus destroys their ship, and the entire remaining males drown—aside from one: Odysseus (12.414-17).
Whereas studying The Odyssey with my lessons this 12 months, I used to be commonly shocked by the ways in which this historical poem spoke to our religion immediately.
Among the many many issues which have made The Odyssey so compelling throughout the centuries is its narrative stuffed with imperfect characters who reveal the common human situation of brokenness and the necessity for redemption. For some readers, Odysseus will probably be learn because the victorious hero and king returning dwelling to reclaim his rightful place. However for others, he will probably be seen as a deceitful, colonizing, and murdering adulterer. In fact, he’s each. Characters like Odysseus replicate the complexity of what it means to be human. Although the setting and historical narrative of The Odyssey are international to us, in some ways, its fallen world and flawed characters are all too acquainted. Certainly, the Bible, too, presents us with a grand narrative stuffed with imperfect heroes all in want of redemption—aside from one.
A Man of Sorrows… and Hope
Spoiler alert: Odysseus makes it again dwelling.
After twenty years of warfare and wandering, he finally finds himself again in Ithaca: “I’m right here now. I suffered terribly for twenty years, and now I’ve come again to my very own land” (21.206-08). However all isn’t nicely at dwelling: his spouse, Penelope, is affected by suitors, who overtly berate and threaten their son, Telemachus. After being disguised as a beggar by the goddess Athena, Odysseus sneaks again into his own residence. In a dramatic second, he reveals his id to the suitors and Penelope when he shoots his personal bow and arrow by means of twelve axe heads (21.422-24). What follows is a vengeful slaughter of all those that threatened Odysseus’s household and residential.
Maybe surprisingly, Odysseus is perhaps learn as an imperfect foreshadowing of Christ’s life and work. He’s, in any case, a long-suffering son who left his homeland (his father, Laertes, grieves the son who he believes has died), and he’s described as a “man of sorrows” and rightful king whose return is promised (19.119). He even reveals himself to those that didn’t acknowledge him initially, echoing Christ’s look to Mary Magdalene within the backyard (John 20:11-18) or to the 2 disciples on the street to Emmaus, who don’t know who he’s at first (Luke 24:13-35). But it surely seems that even when Odysseus does make it dwelling by means of many risks, toils, and snares, he can’t carry true restoration to his home and land. His gospel isn’t one in every of grace and peace.
Figuring out the distinction between a fictional character like Odysseus and the true individual of Jesus Christ, who we declare as Lord and Savior, is essential. However it’s also the case that Christians all through the church’s historical past have discovered God’s fact in surprising locations. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215), for instance, regarded Greek philosophy as “a stepping-stone to the philosophy which is in accordance with Christ” (Stromata 6.8). Centuries later, Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-64) equally pointed to the opportunity of discovering God’s fact wherever, even in pagan authors: “If we regard the Spirit of God as the only fountain of fact, we will neither reject the reality itself, nor despise it wherever it shall seem, until we want to dishonor the Spirit of God” (Institutes 2.2.15).
What stepping-stones may we, led by the Spirit, discover in Homer’s textual content? Regardless of its historical context and mythological style, The Odyssey factors us to 2 nice truths that we are able to readily embrace as Christian readers:
- First, Odysseus reminds us that all of us want a homecoming during which relationships are restored, our house is at peace, and the desk is ready for a feast. It seems that we now have extra in widespread with this determine from historical Greek literature than we would have imagined. All of us, like Odysseus, are on a journey dwelling.
- Secondly, as Odysseus painfully demonstrates, the fulfilment of our common want and our desired homecoming can’t be achieved by means of our personal efforts. That type of restoration can solely come about by means of Jesus Christ, the true “man of sorrows” (Isa. 53:3), whose life, dying, and resurrection brings full, lasting peace.
Whereas studying The Odyssey with my lessons this 12 months, I used to be commonly shocked by the ways in which this historical poem spoke to our religion immediately. True, none of us had battled towards Troy or sailed throughout the ocean whereas avoiding monsters. But Odysseus managed, regardless of his very obvious flaws and the truth that Homer wrote centuries earlier than Jesus’ earthly life, to level us to Christ.
In his story, we discovered a companion on the way in which dwelling.
