…or book of the living?

As a child I was fascinated by the rites and rituals of ancient Egypt.  At one time I could have ‘picked out’ any one of a catalogue of gods from their pictures and told you about their particular roles.  Like many little boys, I relished the details of the whole mummifying process, and my eyes shone  when I went to visit the Tutankhamen exhibition at the British Museum with all its breathtaking treasure.  Today ancient Egypt has come to London again, with a spectacular exhibition at the British Museum entitled: Journey through the afterlife: ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. John Taylor, curator of the exhibition, writes “The Book of the Dead isn’t a finite text – it’s not like the Bible, it’s not a collection of doctrine or a statement of faith or anything like that – it’s a practical guide to the next world, with spells that would help you on your journey.”

As a ‘practical guide to the next world’, there is a kind of painful irony to all this.  Whilst the few undisturbed ancient remains lie sleeping under desert sands, not far away the streets of modern Egypt are in ferment.  A practical guide for the next world would seem like something of an indulgence when the current one is in such a state.  The ancient civilisation which brought us chariots of gold and masks of lapis lazuli has turned into a modern one where police officers fire live rounds on angry protesters, and fighter jets swoop low over the city making the windows rattle.  For many in Egypt, a year which started with the unimaginable violence of worshippers murdered at church has only got worse.

So, if the Bible is not a ‘practical guide to the next world’ like the Book of the Dead – what is it?  Is it maybe a ‘practical guide’ to this world instead?  Certainly the creative and imaginative ways that radio, television, printed media and churches are marking its 400^th anniversary for Biblefresh year would make you think so.  We must beware, though, of treating the Bible like a recipe book.  If Christians in Egypt could have turned to the relevant verse and found a ready solution for their nation’s ills they would have done it by now, I’m sure.  It has to be studied, contemplated, explained and absorbed – none of which is a quick process.

Maybe one thing which makes it a book of the living, rather than a book of the dead, is that God provides people to interpret it.  In Isaiah 30 there is a verse which is either deeply heartening or extremely intimidating for preachers, depending on your state of confidence:

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity

and the water of affliction

your teachers will be hidden no more (v.6)

The Bible is undoubtedly intended to act as a ‘guide for this world’ but preachers, the Spirit who inspires them, and the people who listen to them with discernment are all part of the deal.

Image: British Museum