Guns, Germs, Steel, and God
Posted on | May 29, 2009 | No Comments
PBS has recently aired a documentary on Jared Diamond’s book and thesis that “guns, germs, and steel” are the driving forces of history as we know it. In his episode on European invasions of Africa, he highlights the Battle of Blood River, complete with scenes from the historic location and its recreated (in bronze) wagons. The point of the episode: the guns won the day. I was immediately thrown back to the interchange in Red Clay, Blood River between Fortius Lieberman and Karel Landman after the battle:
“Guns. It was our guns. And the weather. Clear sun. It kept the powder dry. We were lucky.”
“No, Fortius, God. God gave us the victory. The land is ours now. They will never recover.”
“Nor will we, Karel. Nor will we.”
What is missing from Diamond’s account is, of course, the complex cultural and religious dynamics contained in “God.” Attendant to conceptions of ultimate order and justice contained in that term are also basic visions of how to order human societies and relationships. Surely these less tangible dimensions of human action were present as well.
In our own time, diverging and often distorted conceptions of “God” legitimate governments, armies, and terrorist squads, as well as ventures in peace-building and cooperation. To reduce history to metal and technology is to narrow the focus for our understanding and our imaginative alternatives for dealing with the ecological and political challenges we face.
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About William J. Everett
In my teaching career I authored eight books and numerous articles in social ethics and religion. After over thirty years of academic work — in Germany, India, and South Africa as well as in the United States — I wanted to turn my hand to a poetically written novel to probe the issues of ecological and human reconciliation.
When I am not writing, I create furniture for worship settings. For more about my work, go to www.WisdomsTable.net, where you will also find galleries of artwork by my wife Sylvia, whose ancestors were the original inspiration for Red Clay, Blood River. Click to read my complete bio...
About Red Clay Blood River
Red Clay, Blood River
is a story told by Earth about two brothers from Germany and an enslaved
South African woman whose lives bind together America’s “Trail of
Tears” and South Africa’s simultaneous “Great Trek” of 1838.
Memories of their journeys through oppression, estrangement and reconciliation
reverberate in the lives of three contemporary students brought together
by their interests in ecology. Through their often difficult friendship
and a surprising discovery they begin to unravel the mystery of their
estrangements, struggles, and deep connections to each other and to
the earth.
Click to read more...