BEAL & DEAL: ICONIC SCRIPTURE

 Earlier tonight I attended the lecture "Iconic Scriptures in Buddhism and Christianity", presented by William Deal and Timothy Beal (yes, those are their real names). The title on the ticket, "Symbols and Scriptures of Jesus and Buddha", made it appear as though the evening would be centered on the focal figures of the two respective religions, but I found it to be much more focused on how the sacred texts of the two religions function.

William deal opened the presentation with an overview of what exactly the two men studied, and whether or not the study of comparative religion is in fact a viable field. Deal referenced Max Muller, said to be the founding father of the discipline, and discussed his philosophy that the true fundamentals of any given religion can be found by examining the text upon which it is based. Towards the end of the introduction, Deal gave the audience an idea of the definition of scripture is through the eyes of someone who studies religion at the professional level: he stated that it is a sacred text that has some sort of interaction (be it religious or cultural) with a community of persons.

Timothy Beal then proceeded to present facts and some of his ideas surrounding the Bible, with a particular focus on the King James Version (the 400th birthday of which is this year). He discussed the idea of scripture (the Bible) being an aesthetic, cultural, and highly visual medium versus the more traditional idea of it being a disembodied collection of words that is to be studied as such. This idea was elaborated upon in an examination of how the bible has morphed into an ideological icon. The term "bible" no longer necessarily refers to the Christian sacred text implicitly, but can also be used to refer to other authoritative works. Some examples Beal included to illustrate his point are the Shooter's Bible, the Bartender's Bible, the Hot Rodder's Bible, etc. The final interpretation I gathered of the modern cultural use of the word "bible" can be described by the following characteristics:

- It is the ultimate authority on the subject matter it covers
- It speaks for itself, and does not contain any contradictions
- It is practical in nature
- It is accessible for the common man to read
- It is comprehensive
- It is exclusive (admits no rivals)
- "the book of books"

After Beal concluded his discussion of Christian scripture, Deal began his lecture on the Lotus Sutra scriptures of Buddhism. I found this portion of the lecture to be particularly intriguing because I know very little about the Buddhist religion. According to Beal, a sutra is the discourse of the Buddha (his actual words), that are written down by a disciple. Most of the sutras begin with the phrase"thus I have heard", and most of them are recorded by the disciple Ananda. There are four major teachings of the sutras that Deal presented:

1) One Vehicle
             - The diversity of the doctrines are gathered into one Buddhist teaching vehicle
2) Universal Buddhahood
             - The promise that all sentient beings will someday achieve buddhahood (enlightenment)
3) Hoben
             - This will be achieved with an expedient device and skillful means
4) Mappo
             - There will be salvation in the period of the end of the Dharma (teaching, law), when the people          
                of the earth have grown the farthest from the Buddha and have the most difficulty
               understanding his teachings

Within the Buddhist religion, there are 5 practices when it comes to the scriptures:

1) upholding
2) reading
3) recitation (chanting)
4) preaching
5) copying

Deal's portion of the lecture seemed to be less focused on how the scriptures of Buddhism function as a cultural icon, and more of an examination of how they function as a tool for the religiously devout.

While I certainly enjoyed listening to what Beal & Deal had to say about their respective academic pursuits, I felt that there was something lacking from the presentation. Beal succeeded in getting his ideas across about the ways in which the bible functions as a cultural icon, but Deal was cut short and was not able to finish his lecture on how the Sutras function culturally. I think I would have gotten a lot more out of the evening if their had been more time allowed for the two men to build upon what the other said, and form some sort of discussion based upon the comparison of how the two texts function similarly and differently in their respective cultures.

After listening to what the two men had to say, I thought of a potential discussion topic for class. I think it would be interesting to explore the idea of how (or if) ideological texts within mythology function in today's "post literate" world.