Blog Post

Fear in Scripture, Wendell Berry, & Origen

by Erin Doom

Feast of St Job the Prophet

Anno Domini 2020, May 6

Icon of the Unburnt Bush of the Theotokos. The third scene of Moses removing his sandals has been cut out, but with all three scenes the similarities to the Icon of the Transfiguration are striking

1. Essays et al: "The Fear of the LORD" and "The Harm of Treating Fear in COVID-10"

Dr. Mark Mosley’s most recent contribution is an interesting reflection on the biblical phrase "fear of the LORD." Approaching it from a holistic, physiological perspective, he takes a concept that can be difficult to accept (i.e., when God is perceived as a tough, wrathful God) and transfigures it into a holy fear of freedom and awe before an awe(ful) God.

What if the fear is not a reflection of the character of God, but rather a reflection of our own neurochemical state? What if the "fear of the LORD" is not defined by punishment? And beyond that, what if all fear is not limited to a reactionary fight, flight, or freeze?

Can there be a fear that draws us? A fear that "scares" the heaven into us. Can there be a fear that we exist with that activates us, even elevates us, not just in our brain and body, but also in our "heart"? A beauty that "takes our breath away." Doesn’t God use a very primitive chaotic condition, and create and elevate a holy ground from it?

Rightly understood, the fear of the LORD is not centered in destruction; it is centered in creation. Not the appeasement of a human-like anger; but the experience of an unthinkable mystery. The fear of the LORD is not the enforcement of cosmic rules of thought and behavior—it is the breaking of them. It is not tending the fire of an offering against His wrath; it is standing in the fire with Him without being burned.

Read the whole thing here. And be sure contemplate the icons of the "Unburnt Bush of the Theotokos" (click the link under the icon to learn more about it).

Dr. Mosley has another related piece that is informative on treatments for the coronavirus: "The Harm of Treating Fear in COVID-19."

2. Books & Culture: "The Fear of Love" and Window Poems by Wendell Berry

Dr. Mosley’s emphasis on transfigured fear as the first step to love reminded me of a poem by Wendell Berry titled "The Fear of Love," published in Collected Poems: 1957-1982:

I come to the fear of love

as I have often come,

to what must be desired

and to what must be done.

Only love can quiet the fear

of love, and only love can save

from diminishment the love

that we must lose to have.

We stand as in an open field,

blossom, leaf, and stem,

rooted and shaken in our day,

heads nodding in the wind.

And here’s an Eighth Day Books review of a short but beautiful collection of poems by Wendell Berry: The Window Poems. Get your Wendell Berry books from Eighth Day Books.

3. Bible & Fathers: "Fear & Love" by Origen

Acts 8:18-25 and Jn. 6:35-39. Online here.

Today’s patristic reading comes from Origen and fits nicely with Dr. Mosley’s reflection on the "fear of the LORD." Here’s a little teaser:

"Nail my flesh with your fear, for I am fearful of Your judgments" (Ps. 119:120 LXX). Whoever is nailed is crucified. I am therefore searching for the cross and ask if perchance the cross is the fear of God. For the Savior said: "He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:38). We have often made distinctions between fear and love, and said that the one who loves is more perfect than the one who fears, and that fear is necessary in the beginning. But when "perfect love" has come in, "it casts out fear" (1 Jn. 4:13). Since then the just person is nailed to the cross by God with fear, I ask whether the one who is crucified and nailed with fear is indeed afraid so that he will mortify his earthly members (cf. Col. 3:5); but when "perfect love" comes, he is taken down from the cross, buried, and raised from the dead that he might "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4), no longer in fear, but in the love which is in Christ Jesus.

Read the whole reflection here.

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