There was fairly a bit of debate lately about how a lot (some) males apparently take into consideration historic 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 historic Rome. However current and forthcoming movies recommend that we’d all profit from spending extra time eager about historic 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 lately introduced that Christopher Nolan’s subsequent movie can 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 practically 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 struggle for ten years towards the Trojans for his or her seize (or seduction) of Helen. In the end, Odysseus allows their victory by way of the deception of the picket horse. Following their triumph, many of the Greeks return dwelling, however as recounted in The Odyssey, that’s not 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 eager about Odysseus and his trials over this previous yr. The Odyssey was the Core Guide at Wheaton School, the place I educate undergraduate lessons. The thought of the Core Guide program is for the entire school 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 slightly urgent questions: Why ought to Christians hassle 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 boastful, duplicitous, and vengeful? Or, to place it slightly bluntly, shouldn’t we simply learn our Bible? Through the years, I’ve discovered by way of discussions in each the classroom and the church that Christians typically 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 would possibly 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 really assist us to “know thyself,” as the traditional Greek proverb instructs us. The Odyssey is without doubt one of 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 continually navigate risks which are 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 wishes for achievement, 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 ordinary, sobbing in grief and ache; his coronary heart was breaking. In tears he stared throughout the fruitless sea.” (5.81-84)
In fact, as Christians, our worldview is formed primarily by God’s Phrase, which is the primary and ultimate authority for all issues of Christian religion and apply (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 know our collective historical past and the broader cultural waters through which we swim. Not studying them solely results in collective amnesia.
A Common Situation
In Emily Wilson’s wonderful translation of The Odyssey, Odysseus is recurrently 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 purpose that his journey is described as an “odyssey of ache” (5.340).
However additionally it is the case that Odysseus and his males are topic to the implications 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 ends up in the deaths of a number of of his males (9-227-29). Later, once they have practically returned to Ithaca, the lads’s curiosity causes them to open a bag that is filled 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 all the remaining males drown—apart from one: Odysseus (12.414-17).
Whereas studying The Odyssey with my lessons this yr, I used to be recurrently shocked by the ways in which this historic 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 can be learn because the victorious hero and king returning dwelling to reclaim his rightful place. However for others, he can 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 historic 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—apart from one.
A Man of Sorrows… and Hope
Spoiler alert: Odysseus makes it again dwelling.
After twenty years of struggle and wandering, he ultimately 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 is just not properly at dwelling: his spouse, Penelope, is laid low with suitors, who brazenly 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 way 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 may be learn as an imperfect foreshadowing of Christ’s life and work. He’s, in spite of everything, 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). Nevertheless it seems that even when Odysseus does make it dwelling by way of many risks, toils, and snares, he can not deliver true restoration to his home and land. His gospel is just not considered one of grace and peace.
Realizing the distinction between a fictional character like Odysseus and the actual particular person of Jesus Christ, who we declare as Lord and Savior, is essential. However additionally it is the case that Christians all through the church’s historical past have discovered God’s reality in sudden locations. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215), for instance, regarded Greek philosophy as “a stepping-stone to the philosophy which is in line with Christ” (Stromata 6.8). Centuries later, Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-64) equally pointed to the potential of discovering God’s reality wherever, even in pagan authors: “If we regard the Spirit of God as the only real fountain of reality, 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 would possibly we, led by the Spirit, discover in Homer’s textual content? Regardless of its historic context and mythological style, The Odyssey factors us to 2 nice truths that we will readily embrace as Christian readers:
- First, Odysseus reminds us that all of us want a homecoming through 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 frequent with this determine from historic Greek literature than we’d 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 way of our personal efforts. That type of restoration can solely come about by way 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 yr, I used to be recurrently shocked by the ways in which this historic 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 best way dwelling.
