(03) Ezekiel’s Supernatural God vs. William Blake’s Ambiguous Creator
Description
Blake’s contemporaries and modern critics may have regarded him as a heretic or satirist when it came to matters of religion. Some might even consider him irreverent and radical in his views on institutionalized religion, emphasizing the importance of freedom of expression and thought while critiquing the constraints imposed by religion. However, when it comes to unconventional depictions of the divine, Blake pales in comparison to the prophet Ezekiel.
While Blake’s portrayal of God can be enigmatic and unsettling to some at times, the God described by Ezekiel seems like a blend of the Greek deity Zeus, the conqueror Genghis Khan, and the whimsical Angela Lansbury from “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.” Ezekiel’s account involves the creation of an army of skeletal beings, a far cry from Blake’s harmless question: “Did he who made the lamb make thee?
For those who insist on the strictest interpretation of the Bible, it can be challenging. It’s a reminder that reconciling a Bible believed to be divinely authored by a God who doesn’t always conform to idealized expectations can be a complex endeavor.
Let’s not crucify Blake for his minor heresy, relegating him to a lesser heaven or even hell while at the same time praising Ezekiel simply because he has a role as a prophet in the bible.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to...
Published 10/10/24
A Short Story about how we sometimes miss meanings by being too literal.
Published 10/08/24