So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

★★★★★

First, my apologies to Tom and PICKWICK Publications for taking so long on this review. The thing is, reading Holland’s take on Romans is like reading a foreign letter. So unfamiliar is Holland’s corporate spin that it took me forever to get through the book … not just because it’s a comprehensive work, but because I wound up reading several passages twice to pull myself away from the more common individualistic interpretation. You’ll learn to recognize two distinct, corporate communities at odds with one another: one in Adam with sin as its head, the other in Christ with Jesus as its head.

This is a verse-by-verse study of the book of Romans, and would make a good university text. Remember: Romans is Paul’s magnum opus, with every verse saturated with meaning. I try to write reviews appropriate for casual readers, but this book belongs in academics as well. Not only is every verse explored, but Holland delves into several topics in detail. I think there are nine such “excursions” peppered throughout the text.

Now, Tom is a conservative believer, so I don’t quite see eye to eye with him on every topic, but his research is deep and not at all preachy. Holland bemoans the way other scholars tend to interpret the New Testament by relying on Greek secular literature, instead of appreciating its Hebraic flavor. “The only allusions or echoes we can safely consider are those which reflect the Old Testament literature” (quotation reprinted without supporting context, which is substantial). So, he digs deep.

This book could sit on your shelf for reference, but that would be a misuse. Holland’s particular interpretation really requires analyzing the letter as a whole. Themes of corporate justification, Passover, the second exodus, and the pilgrimage of God’s chosen resonate throughout, and these underlying themes set the tone for Paul’s more confusing passages. Baptism (dying and rising with Christ) carries a different meaning in this light. Even the word “sin” gets a remake with a corporate meaning: Paul sees sin as a predator, waiting to attack and kill. Try replacing the word “sin” with Satan throughout to get a better grasp of Paul’s meaning. Remember the Adamic community? That’s Satan, not sin, at its head. Also as you read, I suggest you keep the book’s title uppermost in your mind: The Divine Marriage. We’re talking about the eschatological marriage with its great cosmic banquet. Paul’s theology is so deep that it’s easy to lose track of the fact that he really is going somewhere in this letter.

My favorite discussion in the book was Holland’s exposition of the following passage: 10:6-7 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ’Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) After a ten-page explanation, these two verses finally makes sense.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

//In this verse, just after God creates humankind on the earth, he grants us dominion over all the animals and tells us to “subdue” the earth. What does this mean? There are two main ways of reading this, and I’ve heard both sides preached.

On the one hand, utilitarian readers interpret this verse as permission to use the earth as they wish, to their own end. Knowing that God will one day destroy his creation anyway, they reason that there’s no point of preserving it, and gladly accept the call to dominate all that lives.

On the other hand are those who see this verse as a call to care for the earth. They read the story of Adam and Eve in Eden, placed there to care for God’s garden, and see today’s verse as a similar call for responsible stewardship.

My own opinion? Logic dictates that we hedge our bets and come down on the “responsible stewardship” end of the spectrum, just in case God does want us to save the whales.

★★★★★

Absolutely fascinating! Suspend your skepticism for a few hours and enter the incredulous world of Strassman’s research with a powerful hallucinogen. DMT, sort of a fast-acting LSD, was used in DEA-approved clinical research at the University of New Mexico between 1990 and 1995, where volunteers repeatedly described experiences similar to near-death and alien abduction reports.

The question is this: Are the experiences entirely psychedelic, or is the drug allowing volunteers to tap into another reality, where aliens really do exist? Strassman takes the question seriously, and while the implications are more than a little disturbing, the volunteers “unquestionably had some of the most intense, unusual, and unexpected experiences of their lives.” (After reading the case studies, I can believe it.)

Strassman connects DMT with the pineal gland, the “house of the soul.”  The pineal gland develops in the human fetus 49 days after conception, with its DMT chemical secretion serving as a portal to astral worlds. OK, this is wayyy outside my comfort level and not something I know anything about, yet I can’t help it: This is a five-star book, guys, even though it steps on some religious toes. Skip ahead to part IV, The Sessions, if you must, and then come back to read the rest after your mind is blown.

Strassman presents his data like a research doctor, and he admits that one of his deepest motivations behind the DMT research was the search for a biological basis of spiritual experience. He went into this research already intrigued with the pineal gland, so his hypotheses are not unexpected. His application was entirely professional, with intravenous injections under strict supervision—this is not an experiment that can be undertaken at home. The experiences are kaleidoscopic and often frightening. Yet I couldn’t help wonder how many people, after reading this book, found a way to obtain the drug and jump into the next universe. I sure wanted to.

//Much has been made of Jesus’ choice of words for his Father in heaven. Jesus claimed a blasphemously close relationship with God, even calling God “Abba,” and it eventually got him the death penalty.

If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

//In a patriarchal society, where most women (married or not) are the property of men, what happens to you if you defile another man’s property?

Answer: It depends.

[1] Today’s verse explains that if she isn’t yet married, then you pay a fee to the father (fifty shekels of silver) and marry her.

[2] If the woman turns out to be already married, you and she must both die.

[3] If she is unmarried but betrothed to another, it gets a little more complicated. If you rape her in the country, you die and she lives. If you rape her in the city, and she goes along with it quietly, you both die. But if she screams, she lives and you die.

[4] Finally, if you’re not a Jew, it doesn’t much matter whether the girl cooperates; the laws of Israel don’t apply. You’ll probably be lynched.

So, do your homework first.

Too much! Far too much is covered in this book to provide even a basic grasp of the concepts presented. Ash’s intent seems to be not to explain, but to mystify and bewilder, as he carries us on a journey into the science of the world around us … and of worlds far away. Ash isn’t a scientist, he is a “metaphysics thinker and phenomenologist” who isn’t shy about contradicting scientific theory. There was no big bang; a steady-state universe is more consistent with the facts. Relativity is unhelpful as a theory because light dwindles over distances. Forget about e=mc2. The moon doesn’t cause tides. Gravitational forces don’t exist (at least not as expected) because the earth doesn’t crash into the sun.

Instead, all is explained by forms of energy. Other planets can produce biological cells, but only earth produces multi-cellular life, and this is important … we are the key. Everything exists because we can think. Through our thoughts, we conceptualize God, energy, everything.

The book’s most frustrating flaw is its difficult readability. Sentences read like clusters of big words with few relative pronouns.  “Astronomy informs star centers with cores of helium atoms exhaust protons over billion years.” “The postulated colossal universe appearing from a point, terminating everything inside, and simultaneously abetting the creation of existences outside is preposterous thinking.” You’ll get used to the writing style about the time the book ends.

So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”

//In a bizarre series of events, Saul, the first king of Israel, finds himself in a close battle with the Philistines. Terrified, Saul “inquires of the Lord” to find out what to do, but none of the prophets step forward to answer for God. Samuel, Israel’s primary prophet, had died.

So Saul goes in search of a witch to bring Samuel up from the dead, hoping to ask Samuel for advice. But Saul himself had outlawed necromancy just a few verses before this, under penalty of death. So, he finds himself breaking his own law, punishable by death, in hopes of saving his life.

Samuel “comes up” at the witch’s bidding, but he isn’t amused. He says to Saul, “tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.” Meaning, they’ll be dead, residing in Sheol, the underworld.

Oops! Should have obeyed your own law, Saul.

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you–may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.'”

//It’s fascinating to note the difference between the Jewish ordering of the Old Testament and the Christian ordering. The Hebrew Bible ends with the book of Chronicles. King Cyrus of Persia, you may note, was considered by one of the authors of the book of Isaiah to be the Messiah, the Jewish savior: This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor. “Messiah” means “anointed.” Thus, the final verse of the Bible is a wrap-up; the Messiah has arrived, and the Jews are called to return to their nation and rebuild it as God intends.

Of course, this won’t do for Christians. In the Christian reordering of the Bible, the final book is Malachi, and the final verses read like this:

“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

This, of course, leads smoothly into the New Testament, when John the Baptist (Elijah redivivus) introduces the true Messiah, and the day of the Lord.