The Perils of Deep Structure

Integrity in the Day of Small Things

“My God—it’s full of stars!” – David Bowman, in Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey

The danger inherent in dealing in the “big picture” themes in biblical theology is that it can become self-serving. Observing the generalities can be a means of neglecting the particulars. This is the opposite of the strategy of the Pharisees but it is no less devious. We make a show of the avoidance of swallowing camels in order to divert attention from our plague of gnats.

Just as highlighting the suffering of individuals can be used as a means of throwing big truths into disrepute, so focussing on abstract truths can become a disguise for a failure to deal with sin by actual people.

The heart is deceitfully wicked, able to twist even the best theology into self-serving ideology. True theology maintains a personal, pastoral heart. Speaking against political hypocrisy, Doug Wilson writes:

One of the temptations that comes to people who learn how to see and identify “deep structures” in a narrative—adeptly twirling chiasms they have found, or anticipatory foreshadowing motifs, or whatnot—is that they sometimes lose their ability to read what is right there on the page. They know that the Mississippi River is a metaphor for life, but don’t know that Huck Finn was a boy.¹Douglas Wilson, Doctor, You’re Cutting Too Deep. You’re Scratching the Table, www.dougwils.com

I agree that the deep structures of Scripture really are there, and that they are both wide and deep. But I also think that hunting for them too readily can prevent some readers from seeing what is right on the surface of the text. Scripture has deep mines—but is also a beautiful landscape.²Douglas Wilson, from the discussion which followed the blog post.

Is this competition between the basics and the profound universals necessary at all? Are they not complementary? Metanarratives, both true and false, can be used to deceive and oppress. But surely a true metanarrative is the “corporate” reflection of truths which must be believed and acted upon in every day life by individuals? Any metanarrative that fails in this regard is not deep structure at all. It might be a mile wide but it is only an inch deep. It is a sleight-of-hand which offers a “big picture” utopia without obedience to God in the here and now.

The deep structures of the Bible do hammer home the more obvious messages, including practical, personal holiness, just with a bigger hammer. This is because the “landscape” itself is anthropomorphic.

The structure of the entire Bible follows a pattern laid down early in Genesis. The Bible begins with Adam, Eve and the serpent and by its end their “personal” sin has multiplied into the full-grown rebellion of institutions: the Man of Sin, the Harlot and the Beast. The corporate oppression of the Pharisees and Herodians was supported by individuals like Saul, who thought the will of God could be achieved by the anger of man (John 16:2, James 1:19-20). But he learned that in Christ’s kingdom, the means resembles the end. The Body of Christ is only truly integrated when each individual member is a representation of the Head.

In his commentary on the book of Judges, James Jordan notes the reason why the universal themes of the Bible are represented in the human characters in the book, in real, historical lives:

There are in Biblical theology certain great universals. They derive from the fact that man is the image, the very symbol of God. Thus, throughout the Bible marches The Seed. He is the one born of The Woman who will crush the head of The Serpent. We shall meet him several times in the book of Judges. Indeed, the crushing of the head of the enemy is one of the most obvious themes in the book…

But are all these [characters] mere symbols, mere allegorical figures? Not at all. If you or I had written these stories, and had tried to make everything come out just so, we would have had to engage in a little judicious fiction (and there is nothing wrong with that, as Jesus’ parables illustrate). But that is not what we have here. These were real flesh and blood people, who really lived. Their lives were so ordered by God, however, that everything did come out just so; and the history of their lives was written by the author in such a way as to bring out the universal meanings, without the need to distort a single fact.³James B. Jordan, Judges: A Practical & Theological Commentary, ix-xi.

Thus, the Bible itself is both wide and deep, both practical and theological. It has complete integrity. There is no need to pit the big picture against the every day because they share the same shape. Failing in the every day makes the big picture impossible, but losing sight of the big picture entails a loss of vision and hope.

Our everyday methods should correspond exactly with our grand narrative. God’s tune is the same on the tinwhistle or with full orchestra. At a deep level, for instance, worship is symbolized as commerce⁴Holy worship results in the nations bringing their glory to the Sanctuary. See James B. Jordan, Through New Eyes, 73. (Revelation 3:18; 13:17; 21:24-26), yet the Lord still loves just weights and measures in our business dealings.

When we dig into God we find more of the same, but with an increasing grandeur. The words on our lips should be the overflow of the depths of our hearts.

Unbelief always takes shortcuts, however well-developed our theological understanding might be. As it was for Adam in the garden, the first step towards inheriting the earth, towards truly biblical horizons, is to be faithful in the day of small things.

See also The Bible is a Fractal.

This essay is a chapter from Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.

If you are new to this method of interpretation, please visit the Welcome page for some help to get you up to speed.